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Mafiosi Joseph Palermo (Venantino Venantini) and his brother Tony are fleeing across the border after assassinating a building contractor. They get into a car accident and, after killing the driver of the other car, they decide to hijack a car from a local police station. In the ensuing firefight, Palermo shoots and kills the sheriff (Greydon Clark). The gangsters are pursued across the border by the sheriff's deputy, a no-nonsense Apache-descendent (or so he claims) named Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III (Baker). He shoots Tony dead and captures Joseph, who swears he will take revenge for his brother's death. As a publicity stunt, a US State Department official named Wilson (Bill McKinney) orders Geronimo to escort Palermo to Italy. However, the plane is sabotaged and forced to land in Malta. Soon after arriving in Valletta, Geronimo is ambushed by gangsters and Palermo escapes his custody. The Maltese police, under the command of Superintendent Mifsud (Lino Grech), assure Geronimo that they will recapture Palermo themselves. Chief Wilson telephones and orders Geronimo to return to Texas. But Geronimo is determined to capture Palermo himself. With the help of a local policewoman, Maria Cassar (Helena Dalli), he eventually tracks Palermo to the estate of Don Lamanna, a local bigwig. Geronimo is repeatedly arrested by the Maltese authorities, but always manages to escape and continue his pursuit of the gangster. Eventually, it turns out that Palermo was in cahoots with Wilson, who had never intended for Geronimo to deliver Palermo to Italy. In the end, Cassar kills Wilson and Geronimo kills Palermo. 

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Physics teacher and amateur pilot Nick Miller (Matthew Bruch) has finally completed his quest of enabling time travel, via a Commodore 64 and his small airplane. After being inspired by a television commercial for GenCorp, he uses a ruse to bring out both a GenCorp executive and a reporter from a local paper. To Nick's surprise, the reporter is Lisa Hansen (Bonnie Pritchard), an old high school flame. One trip to 2041 later and Gencorp's executive, Matthew Paul (Peter Harrington), quickly arranges Nick a meeting with CEO J.K. Robertson (George Woodard). Impressed by the potential of time travel, Robertson offers Nick a licensing agreement on the technology. The following week, Nick and Lisa meet at the supermarket and go on a date to the 1950s. However, another trip to 2041 reveals that GenCorp abused Nick's time travel technology, creating a dystopian future. In an attempt to tell J.K. about how GenCorp inadvertently ruined the future. J.K. dismisses the eventuality, and states that there's enough time to worry about how to fix it before it happens. J.K. sees Nick as a threat to GenCorp, and due to the association with the U.S. Government, considers Nick's actions as treason. Nick and Lisa escape GenCorp and spend the remainder of the film trying to reverse the damage to the future. When J.K. finds out about this, he and Matt try to shoot down Nick's plane, killing Lisa in the process while Nick jumps out before the plane crashes. This ultimately culminates in a fight in 1777 during the American Revolution, the deaths of the present Nick and Robertson, and the destruction of the time machine before the original demo, thus ensuring that the majority of the film's events never happen in the first place. The film ends with the now current Nick (now aware of the danger of his time machine) sabotaging his demonstration, and doing a pitch of how an elderly skydiver would be a better ad campaign for J.K.'s company. Furious about being misled, J.K. fires Matt. Nick deletes the eight 5¼" floppy disks that make time travel possible. At the end of the film, Nick talks to Lisa in the supermarket as he did in the previous timeline. 

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In 1905, Daniel Hackett (Nick Stahl), a young farmer from the western town of Paradise Valley, is unhappy with his life as a farmer and dreams of life in New York City. His father, Jonas (Stephen Lang), likes to tell Daniel tall tales about Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan and John Henry to which Daniel has heard many times leading him to doubt their existence. Meanwhile, Paradise Valley is being coveted by a greedy developer, J.P. Stiles (Scott Glenn). Stiles attempts to convince area farmers to sell their land to him, most notably Jonas as his farm lies in the center of where he wants to develop. However, when Jonas refuses to hand up his deed, Stiles hunts him down and shoots him, but not before Jonas hands the deed off to Daniel for safe keeping. With Jonas in critical condition and unable to farm, his land is put at risk. Upset, Daniel runs out to hide in his father's boat and falls asleep. When Daniel awakes, he discovers that the boat had come untied and drifted downstream to the deserts of Texas. After a brief encounter with some thieves, Daniel is rescued by legendary cowboy Pecos Bill (Patrick Swayze). The duo later team up with lumberjack Paul Bunyan (Oliver Platt), and strong African American ex- slave John Henry (Roger Aaron Brown). Each of these heroes hooks up with Daniel and becomes involved in an increasingly bitter and boisterous fight against Stiles, whose plans to buy up land threaten the very strength of the folk heroes and the well-being of the common people. When Stiles takes the deed, Daniel wakes up realizing it was just a dream. He ventures towards Stiles train who was about head out into the lands. Daniel confronts him, and they attempt to run him over, until John arrives and holds the train. Stiles orders his men to kill them, but Pecos arrives and shoots off their trigger fingers, and the townsfolk join in to help, while Paul, who went inside while nobody noticed, cuts down the mine poles. Daniel then finishes off the last pole killing Stiles and his men, and the crowd cheers for him. Daniel then returns to the farm and admits that the stories were true and their land is important. Paul with his blue ox Babe, and John with his mule Cold Molasses, say goodbye to Daniel and disappear afterwards. Pecos leaves his horse, Widow- Maker to Daniel and twirls his lasso at a twister for his departure. 

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Steam City is a place where the only fuel source is coal, and the only means to produce energy is the steam engine. As the only source of energy, the steam engine has been the focus of technological advancement to the point where it can be substituted for any other form of power in modern technology. These same advancements also have given rise to Megamatons, large steam-powered robots. With the air of Steam City thick with fog and white smoke, thieves and criminals flourish with Megamatons as a common tool in their nefarious plans. It is here that the reader and/or viewer finds Narutaki, a young detective fighting for the peace of the city. 

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Stanley Yelnats IV is a 14-year-old boy from a hard-working but poor family that is allegedly cursed, for which they blame Stanley's "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather". Stanley's latest stroke of misfortune occurs when he is wrongfully convicted of stealing a pair of athletic shoes that belonged to the famous baseball player Clyde "Sweet Feet" Livingston, who donated the shoes for a charity auction. He is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile corrections facility which is ironically located in the middle of a desert; the lake dried up decades ago and is crawling with highly venomous yellow-spotted lizards, whose bites are always lethal. The inmates are assigned to dig one cylindrical hole each day, five feet wide and five feet deep, which the Warden claims "builds their character". The novel alternates this story with two set in the past, with interrelated but distinct plot lines. 

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;Act I Hattie Maloney owns a night club in the Panama Canal Zone where she also performs. Three sailors from the S.S. Idaho, Skat Briggs, Windy Deegan and Woozy Hoga, ask her to sing at a party they are organizing ("Join It Right Away"). Nick Bullet, Hattie’s fiance, is a wealthy Navy officer. They are about to meet his eight-year-old daughter Geraldine (Jerry), off the boat from Philadelphia. He tells Hattie, "My Mother Would Love You". Hattie, eager to make a good impression on her prospective stepdaughter, spends three weeks' wages on her elaborately frilly outfit. But when she arrives, Jerry makes fun of Hattie's clothing and way of speaking. Feeling that her marriage is off, Hattie gets drunk on rum ("I’ve still Got my Health"). Kitty-Belle, the daughter of Admiral Whitney Randolph, wants to marry Nick, and she schemes to end his romance with Hattie. Florrie, a singer in the night club, develops a crush on Nick's very proper butler Vivian Budd ("Fresh as a Daisy"). Nick’s efforts to persuade Jerry and Hattie to get along with each other finally succeed, with Jerry making the still hungover Hattie cut the bows off her dress and shoes ("Let’s Be Buddies"). Jerry gives Hattie advice on how to behave like a lady at a party where she is to be presented to Nick’s boss, the Admiral ("I’m Throwing a Ball Tonight"). Admiral Randolph is to be presented with a cup, and his daughter Kitty-Belle suggests that Hattie might present it filled with goldenrod. This gives Whitney hay fever; Hattie is blamed, and Nick is ordered not to marry Hattie. ;Act II The sailors from the S. S. Idaho uncover a spy plot involving saboteurs. Hattie swears off rum ("Make It Another Old Fashioned Please"). Hattie has it out with Kitty-Belle, whose boyfriend keeps being called in whenever Hattie is on the verge of hitting her. Meanwhile, Florrie continues to try to attract the romantic attention of Budd ("All I’ve Got to Get Now is My Man"). Hattie, two of the sailors and Budd meet regarding these various threads ("You Said It"). Mildred Hunter, Kitty-Belle’s best friend, turns out to be a terrorist ("Who would Have Dreamed"). She gives Jerry a secret package to put in Nick’s desk. Hattie overhears the plot to blow up the Panama Canal control room, finds the bomb and throws it out, saving the day. The grateful Admiral Whitney retracts his order and the sailors praise Hattie ("God Bless the Woman"). 

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The planet Peladon, led by its young king Peladon, is on the verge of joining the Galactic Federation, their delegates ready to deliberate and take a final vote. High Priest Hepesh is opposed, warning that the curse of Aggedor the Royal Beast of Peladon will visit doom upon them. The TARDIS materialises on the edge of a cliff below the castle. The Third Doctor and Jo barely leave the ship before it tumbles over the edge of the cliff; they climb to the castle to get help. Peladon asks for Hepesh's support to join the Federation, but Hepesh does not trust the aliens. The Doctor and Jo are discovered by palace guards, who take them to the throne room where the delegates are gathered: Alpha Centauri, Arcturus, and Lord Izlyr and Ssorg of the Ice Warriors. The Doctor is mistaken for the delegate from Earth. He introduces Jo as "Princess Josephine of TARDIS", a neutral royal observer from Earth. Several unusual accidents affecting the delegates lead Jo to suspect the Ice Warriors. Exploring the tunnels under the palace, the Doctor runs into, and flees from, the creature known as Aggedor. Entering the beast's shrine room, he is discovered by Hepesh. Hepesh accuses the Doctor of sacrilege, who must endure trial by combat, a duel to the death with the royal champion. Later, in the Doctor's cell, Hepesh helps him escape, only to encounter Aggedor again, only this time he calms the beast with a hypnotic device. The Doctor tries to tell Peladon about the beast, but Hepesh again orders that he be taken away to face the royal champion, who is defeated, the Doctor also sparing his life. Arcturus tries to kill the Doctor but is shot by Ssorg. It is revealed that Hepesh, his accomplice, tried to frame the Ice Warriors, and trained Aggedor to maintain superstition, having made an agreement with Arcturus over Peladon's mineral deposits. The vote for intervention carries unanimously, but the delegates cannot communicate with their ships. Hepesh's forces take the throne room and hold Peladon hostage. Hepesh orders him to go back to the old ways or die. The Doctor arrives with Aggedor, who kills Hepesh. On their way to attend Peladon's coronation, the Doctor and Jo see the real delegate from Earth, who has just arrived. They rush back to the TARDIS to avoid explaining themselves. 

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While testing a communications laser in a remote part of the Congo jungle, TraviCom employees Charles Travis and Jeffrey Weems discover the ruins of a lost city near a volcanic site. Karen Ross, assisting at TraviCom's headquarters, loses contact with the team and activates a remote camera, discovering the camp destroyed with numerous corpses. Karen alerts TraviCom's CEO and Charles' father, R.B. Travis, who informs her that the group was actually searching for a rare blue diamond. Travis implores Karen to lead another expedition to the site to find his son, who is also her former fiancé. Meanwhile, Peter Elliott, a primatologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and his assistant Richard teach human communication to primates using a mountain gorilla named Amy. With a specialized backpack and glove, her sign language is translated to a digitized voice. Despite the success, Peter is concerned by Amy's drawings of jungles and the Eye of Providence, and seeks funding to return Amy to Africa, but the university is reluctant. Romanian philanthropist Herkermer Homolka offers to fund the expedition. Having learned of the trip, Karen asks Peter to join his expedition since her visas are worthless without being connected to him. At first he is reluctant because no women are permitted on board the expedition plane, but when Homolka's credit fails to fund the journey, she is allowed to join after paying for a spot on board and for fuel. In Africa, the group meets expert guide Captain Monroe Kelly, but are arrested and interrogated by local militia leader Captain Wanta, who finally grants them passage for a sizable bribe which the well-funded Karen again provides. As the group boards another plane, Monroe reveals that Homolka has led previous safaris in search of the "Lost City of Zinj", with disastrous results. The group parachutes into the jungle just before their plane, which is on auto-pilot, is shot down by Zairean soldiers. On the ground, they encounter a native tribe that leads them to Bob Driscoll, a wounded member of Charles' expedition. On seeing Amy approaching, Bob begins screaming in fear and soon dies. The group continues by boat, and learn that Homolka, in search of Zinj and its fabled diamond mine, believes that Amy's drawings suggest she has seen the mine and can lead them to it. After an attack by massive hippos, they find the ruined camp and the nearby City of Zinj. Richard and a guard are killed by a vicious grey gorilla. Monroe Kelly and his friends take shelter at the ruined camp, keeping other gorillas at bay with high tech equipment. When day breaks, they find Homolka, several aides and Amy missing. They return to the city, where they find Homolka exploring, and surmise from hieroglyphs that the city's inhabitants specially bred the grey gorillas, encouraging their violent tendencies to guard the mine and kill anyone looking to steal the diamonds. The group suspects the gorillas turned on their masters yet still continue to protect the mine. They find the mine and are faced with a troop of gorillas. Homolka begins to collect diamonds, but is soon cornered and killed by some of the apes. Monroe, Karen, and Peter flee deeper into the mine, where they discover Charles' body, still holding a giant blue diamond in hand. As Amy protects Peter, Monroe fends the other gorillas off while Karen fits the diamond into a portable laser. The volcano begins to erupt, and the four escape as the city is flooded with lava, killing the gorillas. Once safe, Karen reports to Travis on finding the diamond and confirming Charles' death. Realizing Travis was only interested in the diamond, she uses her laser to destroy the TraviCom satellite. In the nearby wreckage of another one of Travis' expedition cargo plane they had found earlier, they find a hot-air balloon, and prepare to leave. Peter sees Amy with a troop of silverback gorillas and bids her goodbye. The three take off in the balloon, and Peter throws the diamond back into the jungle below. Amy follows the departing balloon with a smile, then runs off to join her new silverback family. 

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The movie opens with a young woman fending off an attempted rape. In the process, the would-be rapist accidentally falls off a cliff to his death. Circumstantial evidence places 16-year-old delinquent Silver (played by a 27-year-old Van Doren) at the scene, and she is sent to Girls Town, a rehabilitation village run by a group of nuns. There, she lives with Serafina (Gigi Perreau) and some experienced juvenile delinquents. Trouble and misunderstandings ensue. Troublemaker Fred (Tormé) saw the cliff incident from a distance and realizes it was actually Silver's sister, Mary Lee (Elinor Donahue), who was there. Fred blackmails Mary Lee into being his partner in deadly "hands-off drag racing", then prepares to take her to Tijuana to sell her into the slave trade. Silver finally wins the respect of her Girls Town friends, and finally they rescue Mary Lee. A subplot involves Serafina swooning over famous singer Jimmy (Anka). During the film, he sings "Lonely Boy", "It's Time to Cry", "Girls Town Blues", and "Ave Maria". A scene set in a nightclub features The Platters singing "Wish It Were Me". 

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In December 1944, Military Intelligence officer and former policeman Lt. Col. Daniel Kiley (Fonda) and his pilot, Joe (Robert Woods), are flying a reconnaissance mission over the Ardennes forest. Spotting a German staff car, the plane buzzes the car and photographs the officer. Alarmed, the chauffeur flees the car, leaving the engine running. "Petrol is blood," rebukes the German officer, marking a theme of the film, the German shortage of fuel. In a subterranean lair, it is revealed the officer is Col. Martin Hessler (Robert Shaw), a fictional Panzer tank commander who is loosely based on SS-Standartenführer Jochen Peiper. Hessler is briefed by his superior, Gen. Kohler (Werner Peters), on a new German attack, piercing west against the American lines. Kohler points out a clock with a 50-hour countdown, which is the time allotted for the operation beyond which Germany has no resources for a full-scale attack. At the same time, German soldiers disguised as American troops, led by Lt. Schumacher (Ty Hardin), are tasked with seizing vital bridges and sowing confusion behind Allied lines. Meanwhile, Kiley returns to headquarters, where he warns that the Germans are planning another all-out offensive. His superiors, Gen. Grey (Robert Ryan) and Col. Pritchard (Dana Andrews), dismiss it out of hand since all available intelligence points to Germany not having the resources and manpower to launch another attack. Hessler, having become concerned about the abilities of his tank commanders after his orderly, Conrad (Hans Christian Blech), points out the staggering losses that Germany has sustained since the war began, reviews them, and discovers they are all young and lacking in experience. Overhearing his criticism, the commanders break into a chorus of Panzerlied, restoring Hessler's faith. Hoping to uncover more proof, Kiley visits an American infantry position on the Siegfried Line under the command of Maj. Wolenski (Charles Bronson). A patrol led by Lt. Weaver (James MacArthur) and Sgt. Duquesne (George Montgomery) capture some young and obviously-inexperienced German soldiers. Kiley concludes that experienced German troops have been replaced by these men and withdrawn for an offensive, but Pritchard dismisses that as well, rebukes Kiley for "crackpot hunches," and is determined to relieve him of duty. Hessler launches his attack the next day. Awakened by the noise of German tanks, Wolenski leads his men into the wooded area of the Schnee Eifel, where they try to fight them off but are overrun. A group of Allied tanks, led by Sgt. Guffy (Telly Savalas), also attempts to slow the Panzers, but their tanks' weak guns and thin armor make them ineffective and so force him and his crew to retreat. On the trip back to Amblève, Guffy enlists one of his crew to help move black market goods from a nearby farmhouse before they fall into enemy hands. Lt. Schumacher and his disguised troops capture the only bridge over the Our River that can carry heavy tanks. Hessler continues his spearhead toward Amblève while he is observed by Kiley, who also discovers that a German truck is carrying empty fuel drums. Just before the Germans attack the town, Guffy finds Louise (Pier Angeli), his business partner, and they split the proceeds of their racket. As Guffy departs for the coming battle, Louise confesses her love for him, and he does the same for her. Schumacher later takes control of a vital intersection of three roads that connect Amblève, Malmedy, and the Siegfried Line. He sabotages the road signs, and the rear echelon of Wolenski's troops takes the wrong road to Malmedy. Almost the entire unit is captured and massacred by SS troops. Lt. Weaver manages to escape, but Duquesne is killed. US soldiers become suspicious when they witness Schumacher's "military police" lay explosives incorrectly on the Our bridge, and his masquerade is revealed although it is too late to stop Hessler. When Kohler orders Hessler to bypass Amblève, Hessler replies that the Americans have no concept of defeat and cites that they will ship things as trivial as a fresh chocolate cake to their front-line troops. He feels he can break their will to fight, and Kohler gives him the night to do so. Hessler's tanks and infantry storm Amblève and finally take the town. Although many Americans, including Wolenski, are captured, Grey, Pritchard, Kiley, and others escape to the Meuse River. American forces regroup and begin to reorganize for a counterattack. Guffy learns that Louise died in the German assault on Amblève. Facing the dangers of a foggy night, Col. Kiley conducts an aerial reconnaissance in an attempt to locate the main German spearhead. He orders Joe to shut off the engine and to glide in an attempt to listen for enemy tanks. Suddenly, through a gap in the fog, he spots Hessler's tank column heading toward American lines. Kiley radios in the coordinates, but his plane is hit by German fire and crashes near an American fuel depot, killing Joe and wounding Kiley. In Hessler's command vehicle, Conrad finally confronts the Colonel about his warmongering ways after Hessler boasts about the war going on forever and so Conrad's sons will have to become soldiers and fight. Hessler responds by transferring his longtime orderly to the fuel battalion, rather than having him shot for defeatist talk. Meanwhile, Gen. Grey's forces, with the Meuse at their back, prepare to fight off Hessler. The outgunned and underarmored American tanks are systematically destroyed, but the Germans expend much of their fuel. Guffy encounters Weaver, who has taken command of a small force of wounded men. The surviving Americans head to the depot, the same one in which the wounded Kiley is recovering. Aware of the German fuel shortages, Hessler leads a company of Tigers toward the fuel depot to capture its stocks, with Conrad watching him go. Weaver and the stragglers arrive first. Weaver recognizes Lt. Schumacher, still posing as American Military Police, whose men have taken control of the depot; but Schumacher fails to recognize him. At Weaver's signal, he and his men open fire on the disguised Germans and kill all of them. As Hessler's column approaches, the American defenders flood the road with gasoline and set it ablaze. The young German crews abandon their machines in terror, only to be either shot by the Americans or consumed by the flames. Abandoned by his crew, Hessler goes it alone, only for his tank to be exploded by a burning fuel drum. Grey arrives in time to see the Panzers burn. Out of fuel, the remaining Germans give up the attack and march back to Germany. Conrad, bringing up the rear, discards his rifle and cartridge belt and confidently marches on, his personal war is over. 

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In a future dystopia, Aram Fingal (Raúl Juliá) is a lowly programmer working for Novicorp. Arts are prohibited, and he is caught watching the classic film Casablanca ("scrolling up cinemas") on his workstation. To rehabilitate him, the company transfers his mind ("doppels" him) into a wild baboon (a process which has become routine, with people buying "doppeling vacations"). For a few minutes, Juliá narrates over footage of wild animals, and Fingal begins to enjoy his baboon existence until he finds his peaceful perch in a tree threatened by an elephant shaking it for fruit. He activates an escape clause that is supposed to return his mind to his original body. Unknown to Fingal, however, his body has been maliciously tagged for transfer (by a bored primary-school student touring the facility during its preparation for storage) to a separate wing for a sex change; and, with the computer unable to return him to his body, Fingal's mind must be kept active by storing it in Novicorp's central computer – the HX254 (in graphic form, the HX368 in speech), which controls everything from finances to the weather – until his body is located. His mind can only be maintained in such a way for a limited time before it is destroyed. Fingal's disappearance is reported to a rival corporation. The news is broadcast worldwide, causing Novicorp's share price to crash. Majority shareholders force Novicorp's Chairman (the film's main antagonist) to divert resources to keep Fingal alive and find his body. Apollonia James (Linda Griffiths), a computer controller, is assigned to locate Fingal and keep him from hacking into Novicorp's mainframe. With Apollonia's help, Fingal creates a virtual world where he encounters characters from Casablanca, including a version of Humphrey Bogart's character, Rick (played also by Raul Juliá). While only minutes pass in the real world, days pass in the virtual one. Rick grows bored, and plots to bring down Novicorp's finances without being removed and killed. Apollonia tries to keep Fingal out of trouble, placing herself in opposition to Novicorp's leaders, especially when she finds herself falling in love with Fingal and develops a conflict of interest. With Apollonia's considerable help, Fingal eventually "interfaces" with the mainframe and defeats his antagonists. He also returns to his body, which has been discovered before undergoing the aforementioned sex change operation. Finally corporeal and reunited with his accomplice, Fingal has taken complete control of the HX368. After ordering bonuses and stocks for every employee, committing Novicorp's Chairman to a month of "compulsory rehab" via doppeling and changing both his and Apollonia's identity to those of Rick and Ilsa from Casablanca, Fingal vows to fight against the dystopian government. The film ends with the new couple walking out the door and, now free from Novicorp's oppression, talk about opening a club on the other side of town: Rick's Place. 

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In 1963 Oklahoma, Charlotte Flax is a neurotic 15-year- old whose carefree single mother, Rachel, relocates Charlotte and her 9-year- old half-sister, Kate, each time she ends a relationship. Rachel's parenting approach—which more resembles friendship than mothering—is troubling to the anxiety-ridden Charlotte, who is embarrassed by her mother's flamboyant nature. After ending an affair with her married employer, Rachel and her daughters move to the small town of Eastport, Massachusetts where she also gets a job as a receptionist for an insurance adjuster. Charlotte is ecstatic about their new home's location, as it borders a convent, and she is obsessed with Catholicism. Charlotte soon becomes enamored with Joe Poretti, a 26-year- old caretaker of the convent and local school bus driver. Meanwhile, Rachel meets a local shoe store owner, Lou Landsky, and slowly begins a relationship with him. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Charlotte finds Joe ringing the convent bell and consoles him. However, they begin to kiss and feeling filled with sin, she flees. After the encounter, she begins fasting in order to purge her sinful thoughts, but eventually passes out from hunger. Uneducated about sex, Charlotte fears that God will punish her with pregnancy via immaculate conception, and decides to steal her mother's car and run away. She drives all night before stopping at the home of a young family in New Haven, Connecticut, claiming to have suffered car troubles. The family invite her to have breakfast, but Lou arrives to retrieve Charlotte during the meal, having tracked her after reporting the car stolen. Rachel chastises Charlotte when she returns home, but Charlotte never reveals the cause for her running away. The next day, Charlotte makes an appointment with a local obstetrician under the name Joan Arc. When the doctor informs Charlotte she is not pregnant, she is shocked but relieved. At a New Year's Eve costume party, Lou asks Rachel to marry and move in with him, but she declines, reminding him he is still legally married to his wife (who had left him). After the party, Rachel finds her car refuses to start, and is given a ride home by Joe. Upon arriving home, Rachel gives Joe a kiss and wishes him a happy New Year. Charlotte observes the kiss, and becomes enraged, believing her mother is trying to thwart her budding relationship. On New Year's Day, with Rachel out for the day with Lou, Charlotte and Kate get drunk on jug wine and wander to the convent. Charlotte finds Joe in the bell tower, and leaves Kate unattended by a river. While Charlotte and Joe begin to have sex in the tower, Kate nearly drowns in the river, but is saved by the nuns. While Kate recovers, an infuriated Rachel gets into an argument with Charlotte about her irresponsibility, and threatens to again move them to another town. The argument ends after Rachel slaps Charlotte in the face, and the two subsequently have a calm, heartfelt conversation. Discussing her father, Charlotte comes to the realization that he is never coming back to them. Rachel ultimately agrees to Charlotte's plea that they stay in Eastport at least one more year. Over the following year, Rachel and Lou continue their relationship, while Joe relocates to California to open a plant nursery; he and Charlotte keep in contact via postcards. At school, Charlotte has gained a new reputation due to her sexual encounter with Joe, and replaces her Catholicism obsession with Greek mythology. The film ends with Rachel, Charlotte, and Kate playfully dancing as they set the dinner table for a family meal, something they have never done in the past. 

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Professor Henry Jarrod is a talented wax figure sculptor with a wax museum in early 1900s New York City who specializes in historical figures such as John Wilkes Booth, Joan of Arc, and Marie Antoinette, which he considers his masterpiece. Jarrod is aware that his business partner, Matthew Burke, wants out of their partnership, especially since he refuses to add more sensational exhibits, giving a private tour to renowned art critic Sidney Wallace, who agrees to buy Burke out after returning from a Continental trip. But Burke refuses to wait that long and sets the museum on fire for the insurance money. Jarrod attempts to stop Burke and save his precious sculptures, only to be doused in kerosene and left for dead in the fire. Some time after getting the insurance money, Burke is murdered by a disfigured man in a cloak who stages the murder as an act of suicide. Burke's fiancée, Cathy Gray, is murdered by the cloaked figure weeks after Burke's body was stolen from the morgue, who is then caught in the act by Cathy's friend Sue Allen, who flees to the home of Scott Andrews. When Sue visits the police station the following day, she learns that Cathy's body was taken from the morgue. Wallace meets a wheelchair-bound Jarrod at that time, the sculptor having survived with his hands too damaged to sculpt. Jarrod explains his intention of building a new wax museum with his assistants, the deaf-mute Igor and Leon Averill, conceding to popular taste by including a chamber of horrors showcasing both historical crimes (beheading of Anne Boleyn, Charlotte Corday, Anne Askew, and Jean-Paul Marat) and recent events that include William Kemmler's execution and Burke's apparent suicide. Sue attends the opening of the wax museum and is troubled by the strong resemblance of the figure of Joan of Arc to Cathy. Jarrod claims that he used photographs of Cathy to make the sculpture. But Sue remains unconvinced while Jarrod hires Scott as an assistant, with Jarrod developing an interest in Sue over her resemblance to his Marie Antoinette sculpture, the police agreeing to investigate the museum while recognizing Averill from his criminal background. Sue arrives after hours to meet with Scott, whom Jarrod sent on an errand, and uncovers the horrifying truth that many of the figures are wax-coated corpses stolen from the morgue, including Burke and Cathy. Sue is confronted by Jarrod, revealed to have pretended to be bound to his wheelchair while wearing a wax mask to conceal his disfigured face and identity as the murderer. He subdues Sue with Igor's help and straps her to a table, preparing to coat her living body with wax. The police, having learned the whole truth from Averill, arrive at the museum and arrest Igor, who attempts to kill Scott before they storm into Jarrod's workshop. They manage to free Sue in time while Jarrod is killed in the struggle when knocked into the boiling vat of molten wax that he prepared for her. 

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After an attempted assassination by the Empire trying to blow up Luke's X-wing fighter, he has a vision of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan tells Luke of the secret Lost City of the Jedi hidden beneath the rainforests of Yavin IV. Unknown to Luke at the time, the city is home to a twelve-year- old boy named Ken, who is called the "Jedi Prince." In the city, with the vast databanks on the computers, Ken learns the history of the Jedi and the Rebellion from his only companions, his caretaker droids. As Luke is searching the forests he meets a mysterious healer, Baji. With Baji he searched the forests, eventually encountering Ken, who had run away from the droids. Before he is questioned further, his caretaker droid finds him and they both vanish in a puff of smoke from Dee-Jay. Luke, more determined to find this city, returned to get help from the rest of the Rebels. Meanwhile, Trioculus, the new Emperor has a meeting with Supreme Prophet Kadann. Kadann tells him that he is not the true son of Palpatine, but still gives him the blessing of the Prophets. He also tells him of the Lost City of the Jedi, where the Jedi Prince lives, saying that this prince could end Trioculus' reign. Able to infiltrate the Rebel's meeting with an explosive device, he demanded that they reveal to him the location of the city. When they refused, he readied the device's explosion, while still taking in the beauty of Princess Leia. As Luke stopped the explosion Trioculus started his second plan: to raze the forests in order to find the entrance. During this implementation, he suddenly goes blind and orders the capture of the healer, Baji. Baji tells him that when he uses the power of the Glove of Darth Vader he is injuring his nerve endings, causing blindness and his body to rot. Baji tells him of a cure, but it can only be found in his hut, which is about to be destroyed by the fires. Unable to stop his troops, Trioculus rushes into the hut, and saves the cure, but is badly burned and scarred. As the Rebels attempted to stop the troops, Luke finally found the City. With the help of the droids at the weather controlling center, he created a rainstorm which put an end to the fires. Ken decided to leave with Luke and join the Rebels in their fight leaving the City and his caretakers. Without finding the city, Trioculus left the planet, vowing to destroy all of the Rebels except Leia, who he would make his queen. 

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Scott Andrews, a 17-year-old, runs away from home with his girlfriend, Nikki. His mother Collette visits her ex-boyfriend, lawyer Jack Lawrence, and tells him that Scott is really his son and wants him to find the boy: Jack refuses at first, but Collette pries him into it. Meanwhile, writer Dale Putley is planning suicide when he gets a phone call from Collette, of whom he is another ex-boyfriend, and she tells him the same story. Realizing that his appointment with a client will keep him in town overnight, Jack decides that he will look for Scott. Both men start their search with Russ, Nikki's father. Dale and Jack get little help from Russ, but it does lead to them meeting each other. They mistakenly assume that they each have a different missing son, thinking that "both boys" are mixed up with Nikki. They decide to pursue their cases together. Jack and Dale visit Nikki's mother, Shirley, and learn that Nikki went on the road to follow rock band Sugar Ray. When she asks the men for pictures of their sons, they finally realize that Collette has told them both the same story about being Scott's father. They call Collette, who confesses that she doesn't know which is the father, but begs them to find Scott then they'll settle the situation. The two agree and they head for Sacramento where they find Scott, drunk, lovestruck and dumped by Nikki. They bring Scott back to their hotel room, and when he wakes the next day, he is not pleased by the news that one of them might be his father and that Nikki is following Sugar Ray. Jack leaves Dale to watch over Scott, but Scott escapes by pouring coffee over Dale's testicles. Dale reaches Jack and they head to Reno, where Sugar Ray's next performance will be. In Reno, Scott meets up with Nikki and the other devotees following the band. He meets up with two drug dealers that he scammed out of $5,000 that he used to buy a necklace for Nikki. He escapes, only to be accidentally run down by Jack and Dale. Now with a broken arm, Scott demands that his two fathers leave him alone. That night, the three finally start to bond when Scott opens up to Jack and Dale--Nikki is his first love, but his parents disapprove of her, so he ran away. When Scott tells his two fathers about the drug dealers, they decide to help him. They drive to Nikki's hotel, but when Jack and Dale go inside, the drug dealers spot Scott in the car and plan to kidnap and kill him. Scott escapes with Jack's rental car. When the two fathers emerge from the hotel, Jack assumes that Scott had been lying to them the whole time, calls it quits and decides to go home. Just then, Jack's wife Carrie appears, following Jack (and Dale) because she's been confused and concerned given Jack's odd behavior. He tells her the truth about Scott, and that he could be the father. Dale departs while Jack and Carrie have an argument about Jack's negative feelings for Scott, making her scared of how he'll react with his own child. Jack sees her point, and heads to the Sugar Ray concert, finding that Dale is also there looking for Scott. They find him as he confronts Nikki, who breaks up with him. Heartbroken, Scott is suddenly grabbed by the drug dealers, whom Dale and Jack attack, resulting in a huge fight erupting within the concert crowd. Freed from jail the next day, Jack, Dale, and Scott head home where Collette and his father Bob embrace with their son. Collette tells Scott the truth that neither Jack nor Dale is his father, but Scott is touched that his parents wanted him home so bad. Before the two men leave, Scott lies to both, separately and privately, that they're the father. Jack figures out that Scott lied, but is rather happy as it has given him a new outlook over having children. Dale, riding in Jack's car, spots a woman having car trouble on her way to the airport. Upon finding out that Virginia is single, Dale takes a shot and decides to take her to her destination by car, much to Jack's annoyance. 

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Two years after the events of the first film, Gaylord "Greg" Focker and his fiancée Pam Byrnes decide to introduce their parents to each other. They first fly to Oyster Bay, New York, to pick up Pam's father, retired CIA operative Jack Byrnes, her mother Dina and one-year-old nephew Little Jack. Rather than going to the airport as planned, Jack decides to drive the family to Miami to meet Greg's parents in his new RV. Once Greg, Pam, and the Byrneses arrive in Miami, they are greeted by Greg's eccentric but fun-loving and amiable father, Bernie Focker, a lawyer-turned-stay-at-home-dad, and Greg's mother, Roz, who is a sex therapist for elderly couples. Concerned that Jack might be put off by the Fockers' lifestyle, Greg convinces his mother to pretend that she is a yoga instructor for the weekend. However, small cracks begin to form between Jack and the Fockers, due to their contrasting personalities. The meet gets off to a bad start when a chase between the Fockers' dog, Moses, and the Byrneses' cat, Jinx, culminates with Jinx flushing Moses down the RV's toilet, forcing Bernie to destroy it to save Moses. Later, Bernie accidentally injures Jack's back during a game of touch football. Pam informs Greg that she is pregnant, and the two decide to keep it a secret until they are married. Jack again becomes suspicious of Greg's character when they are introduced to the Fockers' housekeeper, Isabel Villalobos. Bernie reveals that Greg lost his virginity to Isabel 15 years earlier. Isabel's 15-year-old son Jorge, who has never met his father and bears a striking resemblance to Greg, catches the attention of Jack. Meanwhile, Roz, Bernie and Dina realize Pam is pregnant, but promise not to tell Jack. Greg is left alone to babysit Little Jack, whom Jack has been raising via the Ferber method. Despite Jack's strict instructions to leave Little Jack to self-soothe, Greg is unable to stand listening to Little Jack's cries and attempts to cheer him up by hugging him and acting humorously, but inadvertently teaches him the word "asshole". Greg answers a brief phone call from Roz, and Little Jack is let out of the playpen by Jinx and he glues his hands to a bottle of rum. Jack resumes his spying on Greg and sends Greg and Jorge's hair samples for a DNA test, while inviting Jorge to Greg and Pam's engagement party in hopes of getting Greg to admit he is Jorge's father. At the engagement party, Jack, who assumes that Greg knows about Jorge and has deliberately been keeping him a secret from Pam, introduces him to Jorge. Later, when Greg denies knowing anything about Jorge, Jack still refuses to believe him and drugs him with a shot of truth serum. While giving a toast on stage, Greg uncontrollably blurts out that Pam is pregnant and that Jorge is his son before immediately losing consciousness. The next morning, Pam questions Greg about Jorge, and Greg promises that he knew nothing about him before the previous evening. Pam believes him, and is willing to work things out with him. Jack has reached his breaking point and demands that Pam and Dina leave with him. Dina refuses and reveals to everyone that Jack had drugged Greg. Everyone turns against Jack and inform him that they were all aware of Pam's pregnancy. A shocked and hurt Jack leaves with his grandson. Bernie and Greg pursue Jack, but are tasered and arrested by Officer Le Flore for speeding and refusing to remain in their car when pulled over. Meanwhile, Jack receives the results of the DNA test that determines Greg is not Jorge's father. When Jack sees Bernie and Greg being pulled over, he attempts to defend them, but Le Flore tasers and arrests him as well. In their cell, Greg, Jack, and Bernie are released by Judge Ira, a client of Roz. Before they leave, Greg asks that Jack and Bernie stop their feud. Jack admits that he made a mistake regarding Jorge and reveals his past career in the CIA to Bernie before apologizing for his actions. Greg and Pam are married that weekend by Pam's ex-fiancé, Kevin, who is now an ordained interfaith minister. 

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The plot revolves around three central human characters, George Griffin, Roger Coulton, and Alice Lang. Set from 1987 to 2004, the book details the efforts of physicists George and Roger as they work to bring the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) online in Waxahachie, Texas. Alice is a novelist, working on her latest horror work, who becomes involved as she researches material for her book at the SSC. She and George fall in love just as preliminary trial runs of the SSC produce an unexplained phenomenon: a Snark, to borrow an expression from Lewis Carroll, or an impossible event, in the form of a heavy particle which emerged from the planned head-on collision between two 20 TeV protons inside the SSC. In addition to violating physical laws such as the conservation of mass, this particle emits pulses of radioactivity, spelling out the numerical prime number sequence of 2-3-5-7-11-13-17-19-23-29-31-37. Therein begins the unraveling of an even greater mystery than the particle itself: a powerful intelligence is behind this event, seeking to communicate with Humankind, which has unwittingly announced itself to the universe through the powerful bursts of energy unleashed with the collisions of particles within the SSC. For a time, this first contact is made by a benevolent species. Another species is also working to make contact—a less benevolent species, whose intent may ultimately destroy the Earth and perhaps even the fabric of the universe. The plot does not take place in our timeline but in an alternative history—one in which the Superconducting Super Collider was built in Texas. In reality, the project was cancelled in 1993 and never implemented. In this alternate history, American forces invaded Baghdad and overthrew Saddam Hussein after liberating Kuwait during the Gulf War (1990-1991), leading to George H. W. Bush's re-election in 1992 over Bill Clinton. The sinister significance of all this, and the relation of this alternative history to ours, become clear in the last part of the book. 

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The film follows two threads; one centered on the Japanese chief strategist Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, and the other on naval aviators Captain Matt Garth and his son, Ensign Thomas Garth. After the Doolittle Raid and the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942, The Imperial Japanese Navy has been undefeated and outnumbers the American naval forces by four to one. The Japanese began the planning for the Battle of Midway, creating a complicated battle plan. Unknown to the Japanese, American signals intelligence has broken the Japanese Naval encryption codes and suspects that the ambush will take place at Midway Island. They then trick the Japanese into confirming it. Senior officer Matt Garth is involved in various phases of the US planning and execution of the battle, while pilot Thomas Garth is romantically involved with Haruko Sakura, an American-born daughter of Japanese immigrants, who has been interned with her parents. Captain Garth calls in all of his favors with a long-time friend to investigate the charges against the Sakuras. American Admiral Chester Nimitz plays a desperate gamble by sending his last remaining aircraft carriers to Midway before the Japanese to set up his own ambush. The gamble pays off and all four of the Japanese carriers are destroyed in the battle of Midway. Captain Garth himself is killed at the end of the battle when his plane crashes, while the injured younger Garth is carried off the ship, seen by a free Haruko at the dockside, indicating Captain Garth had some success in investigating the charges against the Sakuras. Successful in saving Midway, but at a heavy cost, Nimitz reflects that Yamamoto "had everything going for him", asking "were we better than the Japanese, or just luckier?" 

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Starvation, widespread in China, is affecting more than 100 million peasants by the summer of 1900. Approximately a thousand foreigners from various western industrialized countries have exploited their positions inside Peking's legations, seeking control of the weakened nation. The Boxers oppose the westerners and their Christian religion and are planning to drive them out. The turmoil in China worsens as the Boxer secret societies gain tacit approval from the Dowager Empress Cixi. With 13 of China's 18 provinces forced into territorial concessions by those colonial powers, frustration over foreign encroachment boils over when the Empress encourages the Boxers to attack all foreigners in Peking and the rest of China. When the Empress condones the assassination of the German ambassador and "suggests" the foreigners leave, a violent siege of Peking's foreign legations district erupts. Peking's foreign embassies are gripped by terror, as the Boxers, supported by Imperial troops, set about killing Christians in an anti-western nationalistic fever. The head of the US military garrison is US Marine Major Matt Lewis, an experienced China hand who knows local conditions well. A love interest blossoms between him and Baroness Natasha Ivanoff, a Russian aristocrat, who it is revealed had an affair with a Chinese General, causing her Russian husband to commit suicide. The Russian Imperial Minister, who is Natasha's brother-in-law, has revoked her visa in an attempt to recover a valuable necklace. Although the Baroness tries leaving Peking as the siege begins, she is forced by events to return to Major Lewis and volunteers in the hospital, which is battered by the siege and is running out of supplies. To help the defenders, the Baroness exchanges her very valuable jeweled necklace for medical supplies and food, but she is wounded in the process and later succumbs. Lewis leads the small contingent of 400 multinational soldiers and American Marines defending the compound. As the siege worsens, Maj. Lewis forms an alliance with the senior officer at the British Embassy, Sir Arthur Robertson, pending the arrival of a British-led relief force. After hearing that the force has been repulsed by Chinese forces, Maj. Lewis and Sir Arthur succeed in their mission to blow up a sizable Chinese ammunition dump. As the foreign defenders conserve food and water, while trying to save hungry children, the Empress continues plotting with the Boxers by supplying aid from her Chinese troops. Eventually, a foreign relief force from the Eight-Nation Alliance arrives and puts down the Boxer's rebellion. The troops reach Peking on the 55th day and, following the Battle of Peking, lift the siege of the foreign legations. Foreshadowing the demise of the Qing Dynasty, rulers of China for the previous two and a half centuries, the Dowager Empress Cixi, alone in her throne room, having gambled her empire and lost, declares to herself, "The dynasty is finished", repeating the phrase three times... When the soldiers of the Eight-Nation Alliance have taken control of the city, after routing the Boxers and the remnants of the Imperial Army, Maj. Lewis gathers up his men, having received new orders from his superiors to leave Peking. He stops and circles back to retrieve Teresa, the young, half-Chinese daughter of one of his few Marine friends who was killed during the 55 day siege. Aboard his horse, she and Maj. Lewis leave the city behind, followed by his column of marching Marines. 

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A boy eating lunch in a 1950s-style kitchen plays war with his surrounding toys. A bomb blast outside the window frightens him under the table from where he is rescued and taken to an Amphitheatre, where an invisible audience cheers. An army resembling the Terracotta Army enters; Romans under the command of Titus Andronicus, the general at the center of the play, return victorious from war. They bring back as spoils Tamora, Queen of the Goths, her sons, and Aaron the Moor. Titus sacrifices Tamora's eldest son, Alarbus, so the spirits of his 21 dead sons might be appeased. Tamora eloquently begs for the life of Alarbus, but Titus refuses her plea. Caesar, the Emperor of Rome, dies. His sons Saturninus and Bassianus squabble over who will succeed him. The Tribune of the People, Marcus Andronicus, announces the people's choice for new emperor is his brother, Titus. He refuses the throne and hands it to the late emperor's eldest son Saturninus, much to the latter's delight. The new emperor states he will take Lavinia, Titus' daughter, as his bride to honor and elevate the family. She is already betrothed to Saturninus' brother, Bassianus, who steals her away. Titus' surviving sons aid in the couple's run for the Pantheon, where they are to marry. Titus, angry with his sons because in his eyes they're being disloyal to Rome, kills his son Mutius as he defends the escape. The new emperor, Saturninus, dishonors Titus and marries Tamora instead. Tamora persuades the Emperor to feign forgiveness to Bassianus, Titus and his family and postpone punishment to a later day, thereby revealing her intention to avenge herself on all the Andronici. During a hunting party the next day, Tamora's lover, Aaron the Moor, meets Tamora's sons Chiron and Demetrius. The two argue over which should take sexual advantage of the newly-wed Lavinia. Aaron easily persuades them to ambush Bassianus and kill him in the presence of Tamora and Lavinia, in order to have their way with her. Lavinia begs Tamora to stop her sons, but Tamora refuses. Chiron and Demetrius throw Bassianus' body in a pit, as Aaron directed them, then take Lavinia away and rape her. To keep her from revealing what she saw and endured, they cut out her tongue as well as her hands, replacing them with tree branches. When Marcus discovers her, he begs her to reveal the identity of her assailants; Lavinia leans towards the camera and opens her bloodied mouth in a silent scream. Aaron brings Titus' sons Martius and Quintus and frames them for the murder of Bassianus with a forged letter outlining their plan to kill him. Angry, the Emperor arrests them. Later on, Marcus takes Lavinia to her father, who's overcome with grief. He and his remaining son Lucius begged for the lives of Martius and Quintus, but the two are found guilty and are marched off to execution. Aaron enters, and tells Titus, Lucius, and Marcus the emperor will spare the prisoners if one of the three sacrifices a hand. Each demands the right to do so. Titus has Aaron cut off his (Titus's) left hand and take it to the emperor. Aaron's story is revealed to have been false, as a messenger brings Titus the heads of his sons and his own severed hand. In Renaissance semiotics, the hand is a representation of political and personal agency. With his hand chopped off, Titus has truly lost power."Dismembering and Forgetting in Titus Andronicus", by Katherine A. Rowe, Shakespeare Quarterly, 45.3 (Autumn 1994), pp. 279-303 Desperate for revenge, Titus orders Lucius to flee Rome and raise an army among their former enemy, the Goths. Titus' grandson (Lucius' son and the boy from the opening), who helped Titus read to Lavinia, complains she will not leave his books alone. In the book, she indicates to Titus and Marcus the story of Philomela, in which a similarly mute victim "wrote" the name of her wrongdoer. Marcus gives her a stick to hold with her mouth and stumps. She writes the names of her attackers on the ground. Titus vows revenge. Feigning madness, he ties written prayers for justice to arrows and commands his kinsmen to aim them at the sky so they may reach the gods. Understanding the method in Titus' "madness", Marcus directs the arrows to land inside the palace of Saturninus, who is enraged by this added to the fact Lucius is at the gates of Rome with an army of Goths. Tamora delivers a mixed-race child, fathered by Aaron. To hide his affair from the Emperor, Aaron kills the nurse and flees with the baby. Lucius, marching on Rome with an army of Goths, captures Aaron and threatens to hang the infant. To save the baby, Aaron reveals the entire plot to Lucius, relishing every murder, rape and dismemberment. Tamora, convinced of Titus' madness, approaches him along with her two sons, dressed as the spirits of Revenge, Murder, and Rape. She tells Titus she (as a supernatural spirit) will grant him revenge if he will convince Lucius to stop attacking Rome. Titus agrees, sending Marcus to invite Lucius to a feast. "Revenge" offers to invite the Emperor and Tamora and is about to leave, but Titus insists "Rape" and "Murder" stay with him. She agrees. When she leaves, Titus' servants bind Chiron and Demetrius. Titus cuts their throats, while Lavinia holds a basin with her stumps to catch their blood. He plans to cook them into a pie for their mother. The next day, during the feast at his house, Lavinia enters the dining room. Titus asks Saturninus whether a father should kill his daughter if she is raped. When the Emperor agrees, Titus snaps Lavinia's neck, to the horror of the dinner guests, and tells Saturninus what Tamora's sons did. When Saturninus demands Chiron and Demetrius be brought before him, Titus reveals they were in the pie Tamora enjoyed, and kills Tamora. Saturninus kills Titus after which Lucius kills Saturninus to avenge his father's death. Back in the Roman Arena, Lucius tells his family's story to the people and is proclaimed Emperor. He orders his father Titus and sister Lavinia to be buried in the family monuments, Saturninus be given a proper burial, Tamora's body to be thrown to the wild beasts, and Aaron be buried chest-deep and left to die of thirst and starvation. Aaron is unrepentant to the end. Young Lucius picks up Aaron's child and carries him away into the sunrise. 

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The Isle of Klaymodo is the resting place of "Bessie", the purple meteor that came crashing out of the sky onto Klaymodo Island. Bessie has the essential ingredient, Bawk Choy, necessary for Dr. Kiln's world dominating Mutagen. Klaymodo's chief baddies are the devious Dr. Kiln and local voodist Happy Harry Houngan. With a combination of laboratory experiments and voodoo spells, they've created an "interesting" assortment of hooligans to help them take over the world. These hideous henchmen include Bonker, a clown gone bad, and Ickybod Clay, the wonder from down under. Dr. Kiln is putting on the finishing touches on his top secret mutagen code named "Clayotic Claymorphisis" as Houngan walks through the lab door. When Houngan finds out about Dr. Kiln's secret formula the clay hits the fan. As the fight breaks loose the vial containing the mutagen breaks in Dr. Kiln's hand and begins to take on a life of its own. The condition begins to spread rapidly and Dr. Kiln has no choice but to amputate his own hand. As the hand hits the floor it scurries out of the lab and into the dense jungle of Klaymodo. Houngan quickly exits the lab in pursuit of the Hand as Dr. Kiln writhes in pain. Meanwhile, as Dr. Kiln deals with his newfound stump, a ship on a 3-hour tour capsizes just off of Rubbage Reef. The ship contains a lively crew of characters, each with their own agendas. There's Bad Mister Frosty®, a one time bad guy who's turned his life around and Kung Pow, a Wok cookery Chef Boy R' Clay. Taffyman and Blob round out the castaways of the SS Manure. 

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Richard Chance and Jimmy Hart are United States Secret Service agents assigned as counterfeiting investigators in its Los Angeles field office. Chance has a reputation for reckless behavior, while Hart is three days away from retirement. Alone, Hart stakes out a warehouse in the desert thought to be a print house of counterfeiter Rick Masters. After Masters and Jack, his bodyguard, kill Hart, Chance explains to his new partner, John Vukovich, that he will take Masters down no matter what. The two agents attempt to get information on Masters by putting one of his criminal associates, attorney Max Waxman, under surveillance. Vukovich falls asleep on watch, and consequently they fail to catch Masters in the act of murdering Waxman. While Vukovich wants to go by the book, Chance becomes increasingly reckless and unethical in his efforts to catch Masters. While Chance relies on his sexual-extortion relationship with parolee/informant Ruth for information, Vukovich meets privately with Masters' attorney, Bob Grimes. Grimes, acknowledging a potential conflict of interest that could ruin his legal practice, agrees to set up a meeting between his client and the two agents, who engage Masters by posing as bankers from Palm Springs interested in Masters' counterfeiting services. Masters is reluctant to work with them, but ultimately agrees to print them $1 million worth of fake bills. In turn, Masters demands $30,000 in front money, which is three times the authorized agency limit for buy money. To get the cash, Chance persuades Vukovich to aid him in robbing Thomas Ling, a man whom Ruth previously told Chance is bringing $50,000 cash to purchase stolen diamonds. Chance and Vukovich intercept Ling at Union Station and seize the cash in an industrial area. Ling's cover people follow them and while observing the robbery, open fire and accidentally fatally shoot Ling. Chance and Vukovich try to evade them through the streets, freeways and even one of the flood control channels, before a final escape by going the wrong way on the freeway. The next day, the end of their daily briefing includes an FBI bulletin that Ling was its undercover agent, kidnapped, robbed and murdered while on a sting operation. Only a generic description of the assailants and their vehicle is given. While Chance and Vukovich did not kill Ling, Vukovich is nonetheless consumed by guilt, while Chance is apathetic and focused solely on getting Masters. Unable to persuade Chance to come clean about their role in Ling's death, Vukovich meets with Grimes, who advises him to turn himself in and testify against Chance in exchange for a lighter sentence. Vukovich refuses to implicate his partner. Chance and Vukovich meet with Masters for the exchange. After inspecting the counterfeit million, the agents attempt to arrest Masters and Jack, but Jack pulls a shotgun. Jack and Chance fatally shoot each other, and Masters escapes. Vukovich gives chase, going to a warehouse a previous informant had told them about. By the time he arrives, Masters has set fire to everything inside, destroying all evidence. Vukovich confronts Masters and during a brief struggle, Masters asks Vukovich why he did not take Grimes' advice to turn his partner in, revealing that Grimes was working on Masters' behalf all along. While Vukovich is stunned at the revelation, Masters grabs a board and knocks him unconscious. Masters then covers Vukovich with shredded paper and is about to set him on fire when Vukovich wakes up and shoots Masters. Masters drops his lighter and accidentally sets himself ablaze, while Vukovich empties his gun on the burning man, killing him. Vukovich visits Ruth as she packs up to leave L.A. He mentions Chance's death, deducing she had known all along that Ling was FBI. He knows Chance had left her with the remaining cash that his agency now wants back, but Ruth says she needed it to pay debts she owed. Vukovich declares that Ruth is working for him now, turning into the same "whatever it takes" agent that his partner was. 

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The Borges story, credited fictionally as a quotation from "Suárez Miranda, Viajes de varones prudentes, Libro IV, Cap. XLV, Lérida, 1658", imagines an empire where the science of cartography becomes so exact that only a map on the same scale as the empire itself will suffice. "[S]ucceeding Generations... came to judge a map of such Magnitude cumbersome... In the western Deserts, tattered Fragments of the Map are still to be found, Sheltering an occasional Beast or beggar..."J. L. Borges, A Universal History of Infamy (translated by Norman Thomas de Giovanni), Penguin Books, London, 1975. . 

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Tenchi in Tokyo begins when Tenchi Masaki relocates to Tokyo to apprentice at a Shinto shrine. He meets a new love interest, Sakuya Kumashiro, who is a classmate of his at his new school. Much of the series revolves around the development of Tenchi's and Sakuya's relationship and its effect on the girls back in Okayama. Unlike the preceding series in the franchise (Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki and Tenchi Universe), neither Tenchi nor his family has any connection to Jurai whatsoever in this series. In this continuity, the girls meet Tenchi on Earth because of one incident that takes place two years prior to the series. At that time, Ryoko and Washu stole a crystal from Jurai and fled towards Earth, pursued by Ayeka, Sasami, Ryo-Ohki, and the Guardians in Ayeka's ship, and Mihoshi and Kiyone in a Galaxy Police ship. They are all injured when Ryoko consumes Ayeka's crystal and becomes a monster. Tenchi defeats the monster when a necklace he is wearing (a memento of his mother) turns into a sword. During the anniversary party for this event at Tenchi's home, it is revealed that each of the girls has a crystal from the necklace as a token of their bond with Tenchi, which they each took after Ryoko broke Tenchi's necklace apart. The main antagonist is Yugi, a mutant Juraian who was sealed away on Earth 3500 years ago when she almost destroyed Jurai. She intends to take over the Earth by turning it into her own kingdom, much as she tried with Jurai. In order for her plans to succeed, she must break the bonds that hold the Masaki family together. Because, in this continuity, the Masakis are defenders of Earth. They perform this function with the power in the crystals, but the crystals need to be in proximity to one another for them to be able to function. Yugi executes her plan partly through her henchmen, such as Hotsuma, who convinces Ryoko to leave Earth with him, but also by forming a genuine friendship with Sasami through one of her projections, also named Yugi. When Yugi's plan comes to fruition, it is revealed that Sakuya, too, is nothing more than another projection of Yugi, designed to scatter the Masaki Family. Yugi tries to get Tenchi to abandon reality and stay in a pocket universe with Sakuya, but Sakuya herself tells Tenchi to leave. When he does, the crystals summon the girls to him, and Tenchi is able to defeat Yugi. Yugi is then sealed away (at her own request) until she becomes a good person. 

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Joe Dirt is the janitor at a Los Angeles radio station. A producer drags him into the studio to talk live on the air with a famous disc jockey, shock jock Zander Kelly. Joe tells his life story. As a baby, he had a mullet wig installed because the top of his skull had never formed. At age 8, he was left behind by his parents and sister at the Grand Canyon. He does not know his real surname. After growing up in a series of foster homes and travelling on the road as a kid while camping in the woods, Joe arrived in Silvertown, a small town in the Pacific Northwest, where he met the beautiful Brandy and her dog, Charlie, and became a target for jealousy from Robby, the town bully. After Brandy's alcoholic father shoots Charlie dead, Joe decides to try to find his parents. He strikes up a friendship with Kicking Wing, an unsuccessful Native American fireworks salesman. In Indiana, Joe has an encounter with a skin cannibal named Buffalo Bob. This brings him unwanted attention from the media, but helps his search. He travels to Louisiana and works as a high school janitor with "Clem Doore", a former NYC mobster in the Witness Protection Program, with whom he becomes good friends. Joe discovers the address of his old family home and travels to Baton Rouge. Listening to Joe's story, both Zander and the radio audience initially find him an object of scorn, but Joe's kindness and optimistic outlook on life, as well as his good-natured self deprecation, win them over. Eventually, Joe lands the janitorial job at the Los Angeles radio station, where he recounts how, after discovering his old home vacant and his parents long gone, he gives up the search and returns to Silvertown to be with Brandy. However, Robby informs him that Brandy found Joe's parents, but instructed Robby not to tell Joe. Robby shows a note from Brandy to prove it. Hearing this, Zander calls Brandy on the phone on air to find out why, with Brandy stating that she wanted to tell Joe in person, but never had the opportunity. Brandy tells Joe his parents were killed the day they were at the Grand Canyon; she pleads with Joe to return to Silvertown. Upset by the news, Joe stays in Los Angeles. Joe is unaware that he has become a media sensation, but he quickly discovers his newfound fame. An appearance on TRL with Carson Daly results in a phone call from a woman claiming to be Joe's mother. Joe realizes that she is indeed his mother and finds his parents' current house, where he and the media discover that his parents intentionally abandoned him at the Grand Canyon, and that they only reconnected with him in order to take advantage of his newfound publicity so they can boost their sales of clown figurines. Angry and sad, Joe storms out, cutting ties with his parents. Joe intends to commit suicide, but Brandy appears and says that she only told him his parents were dead to protect him from their greed. She invites Joe to come home with her, saying he "was home all along". Before Joe can come down from the ledge, he suffers a head injury in a freak accident when a policeman tries to prevent him from falling using a rope. Joe wakes up in Brandy's house, surrounded by his friends: Brandy, Kicking Wing (who now owns 30 successful firework stands), Clem (now renamed Gert B. Frobe), and Charlene (another friend who is engaged to Doore). Brandy got Joe a new rastafarian dreadlock wig following his head operation. Brandy has retrieved Joe's Hemi, and she has a new dog that Charlie fathered. Robby drives up and tells Joe that no one wants him in Silvertown, no matter how famous he is. Clem threatens Robby, and Charlene insults Robby's car. They all realize that they are like family to Joe. They ride off, leaving a frustrated Robby in the dust, his windshield broken by the stones thrown up by Joe's car. As they drive away, Zander plays a song for Joe on the radio, and fireworks go off in the sky (with special thanks to Kicking Wing). 

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Set in the post-World War II New York City – more specifically, the first episode is set on New Year's Eve of 1946 – the show revolved around author and amateur detective Ellery Queen (Jim Hutton), a bachelor who lives with his widowed father, Inspector Richard Queen (David Wayne). Ellery solves various cases while writing his latest book, usually with assistance from his father, and Inspector Queen's right-hand-man, Sergeant Velie (Tom Reese). Similar to the early Queen books and radio episodes, the audience is challenged to solve the mystery. For the television series, this led to Hutton breaking the fourth wall before the confrontation scene. This gave the viewers a short exposition about the case, and leaving the viewer to put together the clues. The final act always used the detective cliché of calling together all the suspects, with Ellery Queen presenting the solution (except in one episode when the elder Queen took over). The great detective's detailed exposition allowed audience members to assess how they had guessed right and wrong. In some episodes, Queen's explanation disproved the theory of a rival sleuth. The series departed from the original stories in two respects. An element of mild humour was added by making the Ellery Queen character slightly physically clumsy, and the character of rival radio detective Simon Brimmer (John Hillerman) was created for the series."Interview with screen writer William Link” from disk 6, Ellery Queen Mysteries, DVD release September 2010. 

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The series took place at Sealab, an underwater research base on the Challenger seamount. Commanded by Captain Michael Murphy, Sealab was home to 250 people, and was dedicated to the exploration of the seas and the protection of marine life. Dr. Paul Williams, a Chinook oceanographer, led the scientific research team. Among other things, the crew of Sealab faced such challenges as attacks from sharks and giant squids, potential environmental disasters, and threats to Sealab and marine life from shipping. 

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Memoirs Found in a Bathtub starts with the finding of a diary in the distant future. The introduction dwells on the difficulties of historical research on the fictional 'Neogene Era', "the period of the heyday of the pre-Chaotic culture, which preceded the Great Decomposition". "Great Decomposition" refers to the apocalyptic event of "papyrolysis", decomposition of all paper on the planet in the pre-information-technology era, causing all records and money to turn into dust––the end of the "epoch of papycracy". The diary, known as the 'Notes of a Man from the Neogene', was found in the lava-filled ruins of Third Pentagon within the territory of the disappeared state of Ammer-Ka. Previously, little was known about the hypothetical 'Last Pentagon'. One researcher suggested that Pentagon was a kind of military brain, the center in charge of maintaining the faith of Cap-i-Taal, dominant in Ammer-Ka in the period of U-S. This was confirmed by the finding of the diary, supposedly of an agent trapped deep within the subterranean bowels of the vast Third Pentagon, although the authenticity and authorship of the document were questioned by some researchers. The rest of the book is the diary itself. In a Kafkaesque maelstrom of terrifying bureaucratic confusion and utter insanity, the agent attempts to follow his mission directives, conducting on-the-spot investigations: "Verify. Search. Destroy. Incite. Inform. Over and out. On the nth day nth hour sector n subsector n rendezvous with N." The narrator inhabits a paranoid dystopia where nothing is as it seems, chaos seems to rule all events, and everyone is deeply suspicious of everyone else. 

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In the Mediterranean Sea, fishermen rescue an American adrift with two gunshot wounds in his back. They tend to his wounds and find he has no memory of his identity, but retains his speech, advanced combat skills and fluency in several languages. The skipper finds a laser projector under the man's hip that gives the number of a safe deposit box in Zürich. Upon landing in Imperia, Italy, the American goes to the bank in Switzerland to investigate the deposit box. He finds it contains money in various currencies, passports and identity cards with his picture on them, and a handgun. The man takes everything but the gun, using the name on the American passport, Jason Bourne. After Bourne's departure, a bank employee contacts Operation Treadstone, a CIA black ops program. Treadstone's head, Conklin, issues alerts to police to capture Bourne and activates three agents to kill him: Castel, Manheim, and the Professor. CIA Deputy Director Abbott contacts Conklin about a failed assassination attempt against exiled African dictator Wombosi. Conklin promises Abbott that he will deal with the Treadstone agent who failed. Bourne tries evading the Swiss police by using his U.S. passport to enter the American consulate, but is pursued by Marine guards. He escapes the consulate, offering a German woman, Marie Kreutz, $20,000 to drive him to an address in Paris listed on his French driving license. At the address, an apartment, he hits redial on the phone and reaches a hotel. He inquires about the names on his passports there, learning that a "John Michael Kane" was registered but died two weeks prior in a car crash. Castel ambushes Bourne and Marie in the apartment, but Bourne gets the upper hand. Instead of allowing himself to be interrogated, Castel throws himself from a window to his death. Marie finds wanted posters of Bourne and herself, and agrees to help him. After Bourne evades Paris police in Marie's car, the two spend the night in a Paris hotel. Wombosi obsesses over the attempt on his life. Conklin, having anticipated this, planted a body in Hoffenmein morgue, Paris to appear as the assailant, but Wombosi is not fooled and threatens to report CIA secrets to the media. The Professor assassinates Wombosi on Conklin's orders. Bourne, posing as Kane, learns about Wombosi's yacht, and that the assailant was shot twice in the back during the escape; he realizes he was the assailant. He and Marie take refuge at the French countryside home of Marie's friend Eamon and his children. Under pressure from Abbott to tie off the Wombosi matter, Conklin tracks Bourne's location and sends the Professor there, but Bourne shoots him with Eamon's shotgun, mortally wounding him. The Professor reveals their shared connection to Treadstone before dying. Bourne sends Marie, Eamon, and Eamon's children away for their protection, then contacts Conklin via the Professor's phone. Conklin agrees to meet Bourne, alone, in Paris. When Bourne sees Conklin has not come alone he abandons the meeting, but places a tracking device on Conklin's car, leading Bourne to Treadstone's safe house in Paris. Bourne breaks in and holds Conklin and logistics technician Nicolette "Nicky" Parsons at gunpoint. Conklin reveals to Bourne his association with Treadstone and presses him to remember his past. Bourne recalls his attempt to assassinate Wombosi through successive flashbacks. As Kane, and working under orders from Treadstone, Bourne infiltrated Wombosi's yacht and got close enough to assassinate him. However, Bourne was unable to kill Wombosi while his children were present, and instead fled, being shot during his escape. Bourne announces he is resigning from Treadstone and warns Conklin not to follow him. As agents descend on the safe house, Bourne fights his way free. When Conklin leaves the safe house, he encounters Manheim, who kills him under Abbott's orders. Abbott then shuts down Treadstone. Abbott reports to an oversight committee that Treadstone is "all but decommissioned" before discussion turns to a new project codenamed "Blackbriar". Bourne finds Marie renting out scooters to tourists on Mykonos, and the two reunite. 

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After the House-Boat was hijacked by Captain Kidd at the end of A House-Boat on the Styx, the various members of its club decided that in order to track it down, a detective would have to be called in. So they hired Sherlock Holmes, who, at the time of the book's publication, had indeed been declared dead by his creator. 

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From her time as a young princess in her early twenties to her death in 1603, The Virgin Queen explores both the public and private life of Queen Elizabeth I (Anne-Marie Duff). The series focuses on the internal motivation behind 25 year old Elizabeth's vow of chastity upon her ascension to the throne. As a child, she confides in her friend Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (Tom Hardy), that she wishes to never marry. Her relationship with Dudley, who would later become master of the Queen's horses, spans the four-part series and calls into question the ambiguous nature of their relations. The series features a scene where a dreaming Elizabeth fantasizes about making love to Dudley. When his wife Amy (Emilia Fox) dies under suspicious circumstances, Dudley proposes to the Queen and is rejected. Upon his death, Elizabeth's affections turn to Dudley's step-son Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Wessex. However, when he is caught making plans for a coup, she has him executed. As queen, Elizabeth is meticulous in constructing her public image. Scrutinizing every detail, she micro-manages everything from her appearance to her attitude. Alternately chaste and flirtatious, she nevertheless eschews love in favour of England. History and politics are intertwined throughout the series, from England's defeat of the Spanish Armada to the change from a Catholic to a Protestant nation, Elizabeth uses her power and her court to maintain her will. 

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During World War II, US Marine corporal Joseph F. "Joe" Enders returns to active duty with the aid of his pharmacist, Rita, having previously survived a gruesome battle on the Solomon Islands against the Imperial Japanese Army that killed his entire squad and left him almost deaf in his left ear. Enders' new assignment is to protect Navajo code talker Pvt. Ben Yahzee, and carries a promotion for Enders to Sergeant in a JASCO. Sgt. Pete "Ox" Henderson also receives a parallel assignment protecting Navajo code talker Pvt. Charlie Whitehorse. Yahzee and Whitehorse, childhood friends from the Navajo tribe, are trained to send and receive coded messages that direct artillery fire. Enders and Henderson are instructed to kill their code talkers if capture is imminent so that the code cannot fall into enemy hands. As Enders and Henderson meet Yahzee and Whitehorse, it becomes apparent that the two experienced Marines are less than happy to be babysitting their Navajo codetalkers, and the Navajos must also endure racial harassment by some of the white Marines, notably Private Chick. During their missions, however, Henderson and Whitehorse discover a mutual love of music. Enders and Yahzee also discover that they have much in common, notably their Catholic upbringings. The invasion of Saipan in the Mariana Islands becomes Yahzee's and Whitehorse's first combat experience. After the beachhead is secured, the Marines come under friendly fire from U.S. artillery. Yahzee's radio is destroyed and the convoy is unable to call off the bombardment. Yahzee suggests that he disguise himself as a Japanese soldier and slip behind enemy lines to commandeer a radio, with Enders as his prisoner. Yahzee is forced to kill for the first time before he can redirect U.S. artillery fire onto the Japanese position. For their bravery, Enders is awarded a Silver Star by the commanding officer, with Yahzee's role almost ignored until Enders points him out but still credits Enders. That night, the Marines camp in the nearby village of Tanapag. While Yahzee is temporarily assigned back to the command post to translate a code, Enders becomes increasingly torn because he cannot imagine killing Yahzee, despite his orders. He demands to be relieved from his unit but his request is denied. The next morning, Japanese soldiers ambush the village. Henderson is killed and Whitehorse is about to be captured. Enders sees Whitehorse being beaten and dragged away by the Japanese. Realizing the Japanese will torture him for the code, Enders throws a grenade at Whitehorse, killing him and his captors. Yahzee returns to Tanapag and, seeing Whitehorse's body, screams at Enders to explain what happened as the village was thought to be secured. Enders mutters that he killed Whitehorse, but does not reveal that Whitehorse was willing to die to protect the code. Outraged, Yahzee aims his weapon at Enders but cannot bring himself to kill him. Enders confesses that he hated having to kill Whitehorse and that, like Henderson, his mission was to protect the code above all else. The Marines are mobilized on another mission and are once again ambushed, this time near a deadly minefield on Mount Tapochau, during which many Marines are killed. Enders, Yahzee, Chick, and Cpl. Pappas (the last of the Marines) take cover on a ridge and see Japanese artillery fire from the top of the ridge attacking a Marine convoy below their position. Still enraged over the death of Whitehorse, Yahzee charges the Japanese line, and in doing so, fumbles the radio needed to call in the coordinates for a bombardment. Yahzee and Enders are both shot as they retrieve the radio and call in an airstrike on the Japanese artillery. However, surrounded and knowing the Japanese will capture and torture him for the code as they almost did with Whitehorse, Yahzee entreats Enders to kill him. Enders, determined that no one else will die that day, manages to carry Yahzee to safety. Friendly planes arrive and the Japanese position is successfully destroyed. Yahzee rejoices in their success though Enders, mortally wounded, dies. Returning to the U.S., Yahzee, his wife, and his son George Washington Yahzee, sit atop Point Mesa in Monument Valley, Arizona, and, wearing the sacred necklaces and other Navajo ceremonial dress, performs the Navajo ritual of paying respects to Enders. An epilogue states that the Navajo code was crucial to America's success against Japan across the Pacific theater and that, during the war, like all other Native American codes, the Navajo code was never broken. 

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Teenage Lindsay Weir and her younger brother Sam attend William McKinley High School during the 1980–1981 school year. The show is set in the town of Chippewa, Michigan, a fictional suburb of Detroit (named after Chippewa Valley High School, which series creator Paul Feig attended). Lindsay's friends constitute the title's "freaks" — Daniel Desario, Ken Miller, Nick Andopolis, and Kim Kelly; Sam's friends constitute the "geeks" — Neal Schweiber and Bill Haverchuck. The Weir parents, Harold and Jean, are featured in every episode. Millie Kentner, Lindsay's nerdy and highly religious former best friend, is a recurring character, as is Cindy Sanders, the popular cheerleader on whom Sam has a crush. Lindsay finds herself attempting to transform her life as an academically proficient student, star "mathlete", and young girl into a rebellious teenager who hangs out with troubled slackers. Her relationships with her new friends, and the friction they cause with her parents and with her own self-image, form one central strand of the show. The other follows Sam and his group of geeky friends as they navigate a different part of the social universe and try to fit in. 

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The film opens with the U.S. Army failing to capture the still-intact Oberkassel railway bridge. Lieutenant Hartman (George Segal) is an experienced combat team leader who is becoming weary of the war in Europe. After he is promoted to company commander following the reckless death of the previous officer, Hartman is ordered to advance to the Rhine River at Remagen where he is promised a rest for his men. At the same time, Major Paul Kreuger (Robert Vaughn) of the Wehrmacht is tasked with destroying the Remagen bridge by his friend and superior, Colonel General von Brock (Peter van Eyck), who has been given a written order to do it immediately. The general appeals to Kreuger's sense of honor, giving him a verbal command to defend the bridge for as long as possible, to allow the 15th Army trapped on the west bank of the river to escape. After capturing the undefended town of Meckenheim, four miles from Remagen, Hartman is ordered by his battalion commander, Major Barnes (Bradford Dillman), to continue the advance until encountering resistance. Kreuger tours the defences above the town of Remagen and assures the handful of troops, which are just old men and boys, that the general personally guaranteed tank reserves are on the way. When Hartman's troops attack the town, Kreuger is shown the reality when he calls for the promised tanks and is told they have been sent "elsewhere". On finding the bridge intact, General Shinner (E. G. Marshall) orders Major Barnes to secure its capture, saying: "It's a crap shoot, Major. We're risking one hundred men, but you may save ten thousand". Barnes agrees to send in Hartman's company, and orders the troops to gain a foothold across the Rhine River, thus avoiding a costly assault-crossing elsewhere. Sergeant Angelo (Ben Gazzara), one of Hartman's squad leaders and friends strikes Barnes after the Major threatens Hartman. As the American soldiers rush the bridge, Kreuger, along with explosives engineer Captain Baumann (Joachim Hansen) and Captain Schmidt (Hans Christian Blech) from the Remagen Bridge Security Command, try to blow up the bridge, but the explosives they use prove to be not the high-yield military grade charges needed for the job, but weaker, industrial explosives, which fail to destroy the structure. Hartman's troops dig in to consolidate their hold on the bridge. Kreuger shoots two soldiers as they try to desert. Realising the futility of the situation, Kreuger returns to HQ to make a personal appeal to the general for more reinforcements, but on arrival finds that building taken over by the SS. Von Brock has been arrested for being "defeatist". Kreuger is questioned about the delay to blow up the bridge and arrested. At Remagen, Hartman leads a raid against a machine gun nest installed by Kreuger on board a barge moored to the bridge, but while taking its crew out, Angelo is hit and falls into the river. Hartman marches on foot towards the bridge defenders' post at the same time as a squadron of M24 Chaffee light tanks cross the bridge. The remaining German soldiers surrender to the Americans. In the aftermath of the battle, Hartman discovers Angelo alive. The next day, Kreuger is led out for execution by an SS firing squad. With the sound of airplanes overhead, Kreuger asks: "Ours or theirs?". The SS attending officer replies, "Enemy planes, sir!" "But who is the enemy?" muses Kreuger before he is shot. (In reality, Hitler ordered five men responsible for the failed defense shot: one was convicted in absentia, four others executed). A screen crawl informs the viewer that the actual structure collapsed into the Rhine ten days after its capture. 

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The title character is Pollyanna Whittier, an eleven-year-old orphan who goes to live in the fictional town of Beldingsville, Vermont, with her wealthy but stern and cold spinster Aunt Polly, who does not want to take in Pollyanna but feels it is her duty to her late sister. Pollyanna's philosophy of life centers on what she calls "The Glad Game," an optimistic and positive attitude she learned from her father. The game consists of finding something to be glad about in every situation, no matter how bleak it may be. It originated in an incident one Christmas when Pollyanna, who was hoping for a doll in the missionary barrel, found only a pair of crutches inside. Making the game up on the spot, Pollyanna's father taught her to look at the good side of things—in this case, to be glad about the crutches because she did not need to use them. With this philosophy, and her own sunny personality and sincere, sympathetic soul, Pollyanna brings so much gladness to her aunt's dispirited New England town that she transforms it into a pleasant place to live. The Glad Game shields her from her aunt's stern attitude: when Aunt Polly puts her in a stuffy attic room without carpets or pictures, she exults at the beautiful view from the high window; when she tries to "punish" her niece for being late to dinner by sentencing her to a meal of bread and milk in the kitchen with the servant Nancy, Pollyanna thanks her rapturously because she likes bread and milk, and she likes Nancy. Soon Pollyanna teaches some of Beldingsville's most troubled inhabitants to "play the game" as well, from a querulous invalid named Mrs. Snow to a miserly bachelor, Mr. Pendleton, who lives all alone in a cluttered mansion. Aunt Polly, too—finding herself helpless before Pollyanna's buoyant refusal to be downcast—gradually begins to thaw, although she resists the Glad Game longer than anyone else. Eventually, however, even Pollyanna's robust optimism is put to the test when she is struck by a car and loses the use of her legs. At first she does not realize the seriousness of her situation, but her spirits plummet when she is told what happened to her. After that, she lies in bed, unable to find anything to be glad about. Then the townspeople begin calling at Aunt Polly's house, eager to let Pollyanna know how much her encouragement has improved their lives; and Pollyanna decides she can still be glad that she at least has had her legs. The novel ends with Aunt Polly marrying her former lover Dr. Chilton and Pollyanna being sent to a hospital where she learns to walk again and is able to appreciate the use of her legs far more as a result of being temporarily disabled and unable to walk well. 

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Self-made multimillionaire F. Ross Johnson, CEO of RJR Nabisco, decides to take the tobacco and food conglomerate company private in 1988 after receiving advance news of the likely market failure of the company's smokeless cigarette called Premier, the development of which had been intended to finally boost the company's stock price. The free-spending Johnson's bid for the company is opposed by two of the pioneers of the leveraged buyout, Henry Kravis and his cousin. Kravis feels betrayed when, after Johnson initially discusses doing the LBO with Kravis, he takes the potentially enormous deal to another firm, the Shearson Lehman Hutton division of American Express. Other bidders emerge, including Ted Forstmann and his company, Forstmann Little, after Kravis and Johnson are unable to reconcile their differences. The bidding goes to unprecedented heights, and when executive Charles Hugel becomes aware of how much Johnson stands to profit in a transaction that will put thousands of Nabisco employees out of work, he quips, "Now I know what the 'F' in F. Ross Johnson stands for." The greed is so evident, Kravis's final bid is declared the winner, even though Johnson's was higher. The title of the book and movie comes from a statement by Forstmann in which he calls that Kravis' money "phoney junk bond crap" and how he and his brother are "real people with real money," and that to stop raiders like Kravis: "We need to push the barbarians back from the city gates." 

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The film starts in a dream sequence. Pee-wee Herman has a dream of being a famous singer. Avoiding his fans, he makes his exit by disguising himself as Abraham Lincoln. One of the fans asks him for his autograph, but his disguise is promptly exposed. They chase after him and he flies off to his ranch. Pee-wee finally awakens from his dream that morning to work on his farm with Vance the pig (Wayne White). Later, he has lunch with his fiancée, school teacher Winnie Johnson (Penelope Ann Miller). Next, he races Vance to a general store owned by Mr. Ryan (Albert Henderson) to order a sandwich. There, the local Sheriff (Kenneth Tobey) warns everyone of a large storm approaching town. After the storm ends, Pee-wee emerges from his storm shelter to discover that an entire traveling circus has been blown into his backyard. Befriended by Cabrini Circus ringmaster Mace Montana (Kris Kristofferson), Pee-wee is hoping to impress Gina Piccolapupula (Valeria Golino), a trapeze artist and the circus' star attraction, thereby incurring the jealousy of his relationship with Winnie until she meets Gina's older brothers, the Piccolapupula Brothers. Gina leaves Pee-wee when she finds out about Winnie, but later returns to him when she realizes that Pee-wee actually loves her after calling off his engagement with Winnie. Pee-wee wants to join the circus, but his attempts fail. Gina then tells Pee-wee about her deceased father Papa Piccolapupula who was a famous aerialist who suffered a fall performing the Spiral of Death. Gina states that Pee-wee should try walking the tightrope in his honor. Mace comes up with a brilliant idea: to stage a three-ring spectacular saluting the American Farm. The problem is that the majority of the town's residents are elderly people who have been demanding the circus Pee-wee is helping leave town. The Sheriff and Mr. Ryan lead the elderly townspeople as the Sheriff attempts to arrest Pee-wee. The Sheriff promises to dismiss the charges if the circus leaves town. While the circus is packing, Mace tells Pee-wee they will do the circus elsewhere to prevent Pee- wee from being charged. Pee-wee saves the day when he sneaks modified cocktail weenies from his hot dog tree to the townspeople, causing them to become children once again. Without any memories of what happened, the children attend Mace's circus and watch Pee-wee perform. 

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The show was presented by Bosco (born 25 August), a small red-haired puppet, supposedly a five-year-old child with bright red cheeks and a really squeaky voice. Bosco and the other presenters usually spoke English, but to help young children learn Irish Bosco often peppered English speech with Irish phrases, much like the way Dora the Explorer often speaks Spanish. Bosco lived in a brightly painted wooden box (hence the name, the Irish for "box" is "bosca"), only ever wandering far from it to go on excursions to such places as Dublin Zoo or the HB Ice Cream factory. The show also had a number of other segments. There are various short animations, usually stop-motion, as part of the show. The Plonsters were plasticine critters, which are continually engaged in fights or schemes against each other. Faherty's Garden, created by David Byrne, starred the eponymous Faherty a dog, plagued by an amateur crow magician (Cornelius, who would often turn purple, much to his distress) in a series of shorts featuring stop-motion models. Freddy the Fox features a host of characters each with distinctive traits, such as Fiachra the Frog, Gregory Grainog and Sile Seilide. There was also a cartoon featuring a rather strange potato family, The McSpuds, that live in a supermarket (Savers) owned by Mr McGinty. At night, the potato children, Sheila and Seamus, run amok. The Tongue Twister Twins were also regularly featured. These animations were created by Jim Quin from Thurles, County Tipperary. The show featured arts and crafts segments which were called make and do, in the style of the BBC's children's programme Blue Peter. Another prominent part of the show was story- time and each show featured a song. 

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The short novel begins with a prologue about a violent pimp named Scarlet Creeper. The main part of the book is structured as two novellas. The first is centered on Mary Love, a young librarian, who is fascinated by the diverse cultures of Harlem in which she lives, as well as its different hierarchies, and wants to belong but is unsure of her place in it. She briefly has a relationship with a writer named Byron Kasson and they have extended conversations on literature and art. The second novella is Byron's story. He greatly resents the segregated nature of New York. After his relationship with Mary, he takes up with a debauched socialite as they explore the wild-side of Harlem. The socialite dumps him adding to his earlier negative views on the society in which they live. The novel ends with a violent confrontation involving Scarlet and Byron; while Scarlet is at fault, Byron faces punishment for it. 

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Porterhouse is a college which had an incident involving a bedder and the college's only research graduate student which caused the Bull Tower to be severely damaged. Since the college's funds were exhausted by a previous bursar with a tendency to gamble, one of the story's central themes is guided by the Senior Members' attempts to acquire funds for the college. The new Master, Skullion, the previous Head Porter of the college, is frail after a stroke (or a 'Porterhouse Blue' , hence the previous book's title) and the issues surrounding the death of the previous Master, Sir Godber Evans, prompt his widow to instigate a plan to investigate the death through a planted Fellow, backed by a large, anonymous donation to the College. Meanwhile, the Dean of the College takes it upon himself to visit prosperous Old Porterthusians (previous members of Porterhouse) in the hope that one is willing and able to become Master if and when Skullion cannot continue. At the same time, the current Bursar is contacted by an American media mogul who seems to be interested in supporting the college without clarifying what it is he wants in return. At the end of the novel the alcoholic Lord Jeremy Pimpole is appointed as Master of the College. Incidents from Ancestral Vices, another Tom Sharpe novel, are mentioned in crossover. 

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High school student Sam Collins, the head of a band known as Team Samurai, is zapped during a recording session by a power surge and disappears, only to return seconds later with a strange device attached to his wrist which, at the time, is unremovable. Later after his friends, Amp, Sydney, and Tanker, leave, one of his video game programs, dubbed Servo, is subject to a power surge and zaps Sam again just after he has remarked "Cool battle armor!" - this time he is pulled into the digital world and transformed into his creation. As Servo, he roams the digital world and fights monsters dubbed Mega-Viruses which are capable of attacking any device on the electrical grid (including the grid itself), Internet or telephone network, usually having real-life consequences far beyond what any standard computer virus would be capable of achieving. Meanwhile, Malcolm Frink, another student from Sam's school, is designing monsters on his home computer when Kilokahn, an escaped military artificial- intelligence program that was presumed destroyed in the power surge, visits him via his computer screen and strikes a Faustian deal with him, transforming his digital monster into a Mega-Virus. Sam, now as Servo, must enter the digital world and stop Malcolm's and Kilokahn's Mega-Viruses. Sometimes, when Servo is unable to handle a virus by himself, he would enlist the help of his friends using his Arsenal Programs which could fight the viruses solo, transform, with the help of other Programs, and attach to Servo as armor. Since Team Samurai consists of only 3 people at any one time following Sam's disappearance, only 3 vehicles are available for use at any one time. When Servo combines with these Programs as armor, he changes his name to either Phormo once combined with Drago or Synchro once combined with Zenon. 

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Euripides's play follows the fates of the women of Troy after their city has been sacked, their husbands killed, and their remaining families taken away as slaves. However, it begins first with the gods Athena and Poseidon discussing ways to punish the Greek armies because they condoned that Ajax the Lesser raped Cassandra, the eldest daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, after dragging her from a statue of Athena. What follows shows how much the Trojan women have suffered as their grief is compounded when the Greeks dole out additional deaths and divide their shares of women. The Greek herald Talthybius arrives to tell the dethroned queen Hecuba what will befall her and her children. Hecuba will be taken away with the Greek general Odysseus, and Cassandra is destined to become the conquering general Agamemnon's concubine. Cassandra, who can see the future, is morbidly delighted by this news: she sees that when they arrive in Argos, her new master's embittered wife Clytemnestra will kill both her and her new master. She sings a wedding song for herself and Agamemnon that describes their bloody deaths. However, Cassandra is also cursed so that her visions of the future are never believed, and she is carried off. The widowed princess Andromache arrives and Hecuba learns from her that her youngest daughter, Polyxena, has been killed as a sacrifice at the tomb of the Greek warrior Achilles. Andromache's lot is to be the concubine of Achilles' son Neoptolemus, and more horrible news for the royal family is yet to come: Talthybius reluctantly informs her that her baby son, Astyanax, has been condemned to die. The Greek leaders are afraid that the boy will grow up to avenge his father Hector, and rather than take this chance, they plan to throw him off from the battlements of Troy to his death. Helen is supposed to suffer greatly as well: Menelaus arrives to take her back to Greece with him where a death sentence awaits her. Helen begs and tries to seduce her husband into sparing her life. Menelaus remains resolved to kill her, but the audience watching the play knows that he will let her live and take her back. At the end of the play it is revealed that she is still alive; moreover, the audience knows from Telemachus' visit to Sparta in Homer's Odyssey that Menelaus continued to live with Helen as his wife after the Trojan War. In the end, Talthybius returns, carrying with him the body of little Astyanax on Hector's shield. Andromache's wish had been to bury her child herself, performing the proper rituals according to Trojan ways, but her ship had already departed. Talthybius gives the corpse to Hecuba, who prepares the body of her grandson for burial before they are finally taken off with Odysseus. Throughout the play, many of the Trojan women lament the loss of the land that reared them. Hecuba in particular lets it be known that Troy had been her home for her entire life, only to see herself as an old grandmother watching the burning of Troy, the death of her husband, her children, and her grandchildren before she will be taken as a slave to Odysseus. 

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Molly and Allan Sheridan leave their two children in the care of a new nanny, Diana Julian. Diana, who is in fact an ancient Hamadryad, kidnaps their infant daughter, taking her to a forest where she approaches a giant, gnarled tree, serving the child as a human sacrifice to sustain the tree's life. Diana's reflection as she stares into a pool of water transforms to that of a growling wolf. Three months later, Phil and Kate Sterling have recently relocated from Chicago to Los Angeles, where Phil has taken a lucrative advertising job. Kate becomes pregnant, and gives birth to a son, Jake. The couple decide to hire a nanny to allow each of them to maintain their jobs, and interview two clients through a nanny agency: a young woman named Arlene, and a caring English woman, Camilla. When Arlene dies in a bicycling accident, Camilla is swiftly hired and becomes an invaluable member of the Sterlings' household. One afternoon while Camilla rests in a meadow with Jake, she is approached by three aggressive bikers who attempt to sexually assault her. She flees to the base of the gnarled tree, which subsequently comes to life, its branches strangling and eviscerating the men. Wolves consume one of their entrails, and another spontaneously combusts. During a dinner party some days later, Ned, the Sterlings' neighbor who designed their home, invites Camilla on a date, which she declines. That night, Phil has a nightmare in which he has sex with Camilla. The next day, moments after Camilla leaves to go shopping, Ned stops by the house with a bouquet of flowers for her. Kate explains she just left on foot, and Ned drives after her, catching sight of her fleeing into the forest. Ned pursues her, eventually coming across her bathing in the creek. He watches as Camilla approaches the large tree, and begins to fuse with the tree bark. A pack of wolves pursue Ned, who flees back to his house. He leaves a rambling phone message for Phil and Kate. Moments later, Camilla appears, naked and ashen, on the hearth, before the wolves break into the home, eating him alive. Camilla drags his remains away. When checking the answering machine the following morning, Phil finds two messages: One from a stranger, Molly Sheridan, who says it is urgent she speak with him. The next is Ned's, which is incoherent, but Camilla interrupts him from finishing listening to it. Phil meets with Molly the next day. She describes the disappearance of her infant daughter, as well as the nanny Diana, whom she came to discover was a false identity. She requests that Phil arrange for her to see Camilla, suspecting they are the same person. When Phil returns home, he listens to Ned's message in full, which warns him against letting Camilla back in the house. Discovering Ned is missing, Phil confronts Camilla in front of Kate, but Jake grows violently ill during the confrontation and has to be rushed to the hospital, exhibiting coma-like symptoms. Jake regains consciousness in the hospital, and Camilla attempts to kidnap him, but Phil intercepts, throwing Camilla to the ground. Phil and Kate depart with Jake, and upon arriving home are confronted by a pack of wolves. Kate flees to the couple's Jeep, while Phil runs toward the woods with Jake, as Camilla pursues them both, levitating through the forest, until they reach the large tree. Kate chases after them in the Jeep, eventually hitting and killing Camilla. As Phil examines Camilla's body, he notices faces of babies embossed in the tree bark. Later, a detective tells the couple no evidence of Camilla's existence can be found. Phil decides to cut down the tree with a chainsaw, but in his absence, Kate is attacked by Camilla—now part-tree, part-human—who has again infiltrated the house. As Phil attempts to cut the tree, the branches entangle him and begin to bleed as he inflicts damage on them. The damage concurrently impacts Camilla, who is fighting Kate. When Phil saws off a large branch, Camilla's leg severs from her body, allowing Kate to push her out a window. Simultaneously, Phil manages to fell the tree, but it combusts before landing, as Camilla's body similarly disintegrates before hitting the ground. 

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The story takes place on the fictional fantasy world of Osten Ard. The history of the world and the races present in Osten Ard have a great impact on the current events in the books. Thousands of years ago the long-lived Gardenborn arrived in the land, fleeing a cataclysm. They were three tribes, the Zida'ya (commonly called Sithi), the Hikeda'ya (also called Norns) and the Tinukeda'ya (known as Dwarrows and Niskies). In Osten Ard the Gardenborn prospered and they built nine great cities of tremendous beauty. The first two tribes had ruled the third in their ancestral home called the Garden, but in Osten Ard the Tinukeda'ya went their own way, developing into two separate tribes, the seafaring Niskies and the earth-dwelling Dwarrows. The other two tribes also split ways, making a pact at Sesuad'ra, the Stone of Farewell. Their main subject of argument was the appearance of Men or mortals in Osten Ard. The Zida'ya were content to leave Men alone to go their own way, as long as they didn't trespass in Sithi lands. The Hikeda'ya were of the opinion that the mortals had to be wiped out or driven from Osten Ard. The Norns and their fell queen Utuk'u, eldest and most powerful of the Gardenborn, removed to the north of the world, taking the two northernmost cities for their own. Three cities were also given to the Tinukeda'ya, one was sea-bound Jhina't'senei which went to the Niskies and the other two were deep under the earth which went to the Dwarrows, the smaller tribe of the Tinukeda'ya. In the greatest of them all, Asu'a, the High King ruled. But Men began to prosper and advance and the sea empire of Nabban rose and fell without it disturbing the Gardenborn. The Sithi also had great friendship with the Hernystiri of the west. Then the Rimmersmen came with iron and to them the Gardenborn were devils and demons, to be killed on sight. Unfortunately the Gardenborn suffer from a severe allergy to iron and even with their magics and their own iron-hard witchwood weapons, they were beaten back, one after the other. The Hernystiri were the only ones who stood by the Sithi in the final battle where both armies were destroyed. The remaining Sithi withdrew to Asu'a and there awaited the end. Ineluki, the King's younger son, wove terrible magic at the end with five of his servants and there they and Asu'a were destroyed. However, the spell gave the remaining Sithi time to flee to Aldheorte forest, where they continued to live in secrecy. During the five hundred years that follows the fall of Asu'a, six different kings ruled in the castle built on the Sithi ruins, called Hayholt. The latest of these is king John Presbyter, who is dying as the story opens. Simon is an ordinary scullery boy who is taken under the tutelage of Morgenes. When King John Presbyter dies and his son Elias ascends the throne, the way opens for a long-dormant evil to enter the realm. Elias, driven by his evil advisor, moves to eliminate his brother Josua. Caught in the struggle, Simon is forced to flee as best he can, and the young man soon finds himself taking part in adventures he had only dreamed of. 

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Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn takes place on the fictional continent of Osten Ard, home to several united races, including humans, elf-like immortals known as Sithi, and dwarf-like mountain-dwellers named Qanuc. Most of these races have been living in relative unity for decades, thanks to King John the Presbyter (also known as Prester John), who is known to have slain a dragon. The first novel opens when Prester John's health in his advanced age is failing and his sons, Elias and Josua, quarrel over who will ascend to the throne. Meanwhile, a dark secret held by Prester John, and the ambitions of a priest named Pryrates, threaten the stability of the continent. Williams used several characters, both villain and protagonist, as point of view characters throughout the scope of the novels. The series primarily follows Simon, a lowly kitchen scullion in Hayholt Castle, as he undergoes tutelage from Doctor Morgenes and is cared for by Rachel "the Dragon", the matriarch of the castle's kitchen. As King John passes, Elias takes the throne, with the mysterious priest Pryrates as his advisor; Josua mysteriously disappears, and the seasons begin changing, bringing bitter winters and warm summers. Simon, ever the mischievous adventurer, accidentally uncovers some of Pryrates' true nature and becomes wrapped into a conspiracy that not only threatens his country of Erkynland, but Osten Ard itself. 

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On the last day of school before summer vacation, physical education teacher Freddy Shoop (Mark Harmon) is preparing to leave on a vacation to Hawaii with his girlfriend, Kim. Vice principal Phil Gills (Robin Thomas) hands out paper slips informing several underachieving students, including easily distracted Pam (Courtney Thorne-Smith); "nocturnal" Larry, a male stripper (Ken Olandt); football jock Kevin (Patrick Labyorteaux); pregnant Rhonda (Shawnee Smith); geeky Alan (Richard Steven Horvitz); dyslexic Denise (Kelly Jo Minter); intimidating Jerome (Duane Davis), and two horror-film-obsessed underachievers, Dave (Gary Riley) and Francis, a.k.a. "Chainsaw" (Dean Cameron), that they must attend summer school for remedial English. After the teacher scheduled to teach the class, Mr. Dearadorian (Carl Reiner), wins the lottery and immediately quits work, Gills searches for an emergency replacement among the teachers still on school grounds, but each manages to evade him after guessing what he wants them to do. He finally manages to corner Shoop, and blackmails him into taking the job or make him lose tenure. On his first day, Shoop meets Robin Bishop (Kirstie Alley), who is teaching American History next door. Shoop falls for her, but she is already dating Gills. Shoop's first day is a disaster. Most of the students slack around, and Jerome goes to the bathroom and doesn't return. A beautiful Italian transfer student, Anna-Maria (Fabiana Udenio), is transferred to the class in order for her to work on her English, much to the delight of Dave and Chainsaw. After some students inexplicably leave and the remaining ones attempt to leave class as well, Shoop admits he has no idea how to teach them. Rather than studying, he and the students spend their first few days having fun and going to the beach, a theme park, and a petting zoo until Alan's aunt finds out and tells Gills. Gills threatens to fire Shoop unless his students pass the end-of-term test. Shoop negotiates promises to each teen to grant them a favor if they study. The kids agree, so Shoop gives Denise driving lessons, accompanies Rhonda to Lamaze classes, gives Kevin football lessons, allows Dave and Chainsaw to throw a party in his house and give them rides to school, gives Larry a bed in the classroom, lets Chainsaw arrange a screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in class and allows Pam to move in with him. Seeing he is still floundering as a teacher, Robin tells Shoop to make learning fun. Shoop begins to grow closer to the kids. They study to pass their English basic skills exam, worried that Gills is going to fire Shoop unless all his students pass. Shoop is arrested when he covers for Chainsaw and Dave after they are found in possession of alcohol. He calls Robin and her and Gills bail him out of jail. Gills then inadvertently exposes his true self to Robin when he states he cares nothing for Shoop or his students and she overhears him, causing her to storm off. Larry loses his stripper job when he is found out by his aunt and his mother, who are attending the club where he works. The students make more demands on Shoop and he throws an English book against the chalkboard and after stating his sacrifices to grant their favors, quits his job in anger. His students start feeling guilty about what they did, and scare off Shoop's dull replacement with a series of gory stunts reminiscent of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. They find Shoop moping in the beach whilst eating ice cream, and ask him to return, with him accepting. Shoop and his students then begin preparing for the test in earnest, and even Jerome, who had "gone to the bathroom" weeks before, returns. The exam goes smoothly despite Rhonda going into labor soon after finishing. Gills reveals to Shoop that the average of grades was below passing, so Gills is ready to follow through with his firing threat. However, the parents of the students come to Shoop's defense. Because of the students' marked improvement, Principal Kelban (Francis X. McCarthy) grants Shoop tenure for his positive efforts. Shoop returns to the beach with his dog and Robin. He asks her to a dinnaer date for the last time, with her accepting at last and kissing him in the sunset. 

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At Crydee, Pug, an orphan boy, is apprenticed to a master magician. Suddenly the Kingdom is aswarm with alien invaders, destroying the peace of the kingdom. Pug and his friend Tomas are swept up into the conflict, with Pug's destiny leading him through a rift to a new world. 

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One night after shopping, Roxy Miller (Marilyn Manning) is driving to a party through the California desert when she nearly runs her car into Eegah (Richard Kiel), a giant caveman. She tells her boyfriend Tom Nelson (Arch Hall Jr.) and her father Robert Miller (Arch Hall Sr.) about the giant. Her father, a writer of adventure books, decides to go into the desert to look for the creature and possibly take a photograph of it. When his helicopter ride fails to show up at his designated pickup time, Tom and Roxy go looking for him. Roxy is soon kidnapped by Eegah and taken back to his cave while Tom searches for her. In Eegah's cave, Roxy is reunited with her father, who tells her that he has begun to communicate with the caveman and has developed a theory as to the creature's astounding longevity. When a frisky Eegah expresses what seems to be romantic interest in Roxy, her father, fearful that the creature may kill them both if he is rebuffed, suggests she put up with as much of it as she can bear. Eegah never tries anything too explicit, though, and Roxy even ends up giving him a shave before Tom arrives and helps the Millers escape. Crushed, Eegah follows them back to civilization, a final confrontation ensues, and Eegah is killed. 

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The action commences in 1939. Lieutenant-Commander George Ericson, a Merchant Navy and Royal Naval Reserve officer, is recalled to the Royal Navy and given command of the fictitious HMS Compass Rose, newly built to escort convoys. His officers are mostly new to the Navy, especially the two new sub- lieutenants, Lockhart and Ferraby. Only Ericson and the petty officers are in any way experienced. Despite these initial disadvantages, the ship and crew work up a routine and gain experience. Bennett, the first lieutenant, a mean and shirking disciplinarian with a penchant for bullying and canned sausages ("snorkers"), leaves the ship ostensibly for health reasons, and the junior officers are able to mature, with Lockhart gaining promotion to first lieutenant. The crew cross the Atlantic many times on escort duty in all kinds of weather, often encountering fierce storms in one of the smallest ships built to protect Allied convoys. The men endure the ship's constant rolling and pitching in the huge waves, freezing cold, the strain of maintaining station on the convoy on pitch-black nights and the fear that at any second a torpedo from a German U-boat could blow them to oblivion. Somehow the tradition of the Royal Navy and the knowledge of the importance of their work carries them through. They continue the monotonous and dangerous but vital duty of convoy escort, and after one particularly difficult convoy they use all their hard-won knowledge to sink a German submarine. They are nearly sunk several times until in 1943 they are finally torpedoed and forced to abandon ship. Most of the crew die in the freezing waters, but Ericson, Lockhart, Ferraby, and a few others are rescued the next day; however Ferraby suffers a breakdown forcing him to go to hospital. Ericson, now promoted to commander, and Lockhart, now a lieutenant-commander, take command of a new ship, the fictitious HMS Saltash. (In the film adaptation, the ship is called Saltash Castle and is portrayed by the , as no River-class vessels were available.) The Royal Navy is now finally gaining the upper hand over the U-boats and Saltash adds to the growing number of kills due to Ericson's determination and patience. In chapter seven the ship receives a message ordering it to "remain on patrol in vicinity of Rockall" as the end of the Second World War approaches in 1945, and as finally hostilities were declared ended, a well- known quote: With the war ended, Saltash returns to port as a guard to several German submarines that have surrendered. A secondary plotline concerns Lockhart's poignant romance with a beautiful Women's Royal Naval Service officer. 

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:Today the women at the festival :Are going to kill me for insulting them!Thesmophoria lines 181-82 This bold statement by Euripides is the absurd premise upon which the whole play depends. The women are incensed by his plays' portrayal of the female sex as mad, murderous, and sexually depraved, and they are using the festival of the Thesmophoria (an annual fertility celebration dedicated to Demeter) as an opportunity to debate a suitable choice of revenge. Fearful of their powers, Euripides seeks out a fellow tragedian, Agathon, in the hope of persuading him to spy for him and to be his advocate at the festival – a role that would require him to go disguised as a woman. Agathon is already dressed as a woman, in preparation for a play, but he believes that the women of Athens are jealous of him and he refuses to attend the festival for fear of being discovered. Euripides' aged in-law (never named within the play but recorded in the 'dramatis personae' as Mnesilochus) then offers to go in Agathon's place. Euripides shaves him, dresses him in women's clothes borrowed from Agathon and finally sends him off to the Thesmophorion, the venue of the women's secret rites. There, the women are discovered behaving like citizens of a democracy, conducting an assembly much as men do, with appointed officials and carefully maintained records and procedures. Top of the agenda for that day is Euripides. Two women – Micca and a myrtle vendor – summarize their grievances against him. According to Micca, Euripides has taught men not to trust women, this has made them more vigilant and that in turn makes it impossible for women to help themselves to the household stores. According to the myrtle vendor, his plays promote atheism and this makes it difficult for her to sell her myrtle wreaths. Mnesilochus then speaks up, declaring that the behaviour of women is in fact far worse than Euripides has represented it. He recites in excruciating detail his own (imaginary) sins as a married woman, including a sexual escapade with a boyfriend in a tryst involving a laurel tree and a statue of Apollo. The assembly is outraged but order is restored when a female messenger is seen approaching. It turns out to be Cleisthenes, a notoriously effeminate homosexual, represented in this play as the Athenian 'ambassador' for women. He has come with the alarming news that a man disguised as a woman is spying upon them on behalf of Euripides! Suspicion immediately falls upon Mnesilochus, being the only member of the group whom nobody can identify. After they remove his clothes, they discover that he is indeed a man. In a parody of a famous scene from Euripides' 'Telephus',lost play, in fragments only. See: Davies Malcolm, Euripides 'Telephus' Fr. 149 (Austin) and the Folk-Tale Origins of the Teuthranian Expedition, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik volume133, pages 7–10 ; also see Telephus Mnesilochus grabs Micca's baby and threatens to kill it unless the women release him. After closer inspection, however, Mnesilochus discovers that the 'baby' is in fact a wine skin fitted with booties. Undeterred, he still threatens it with a knife. Micca (a devout tippler) pleads for its release but the assembly will not negotiate with Mnesilochus and he stabs the baby anyway. Micca catches its precious blood in a pan. At this point, the action pauses briefly for a parabasis. Meanwhile, the male authorities are notified of the illegal presence of a man at a women-only festival. Mnesilochus is subsequently arrested and strapped to a plank by a Scythian archer (Athenian equivalent of a policeman) on the orders of a prytanis. There then follows a series of farcical scenes in which Euripides, in a desperate attempt to rescue Mnesilochus, comes and goes in various disguises, first as Menelaus, a character from his own play Helen – to which Mnesilochus responds by playing out the role of Helen – and then as Perseus, a character from another Euripidean play, Andromeda, in which role he swoops heroically across the stage on a theatrical crane (frequently used by Greek playwrights to allow for a deus ex machina) – to which Mnesilochus responds by acting out the role of Andromeda. Improbably, Euripides impersonates Echo in the same scene as he impersonates Perseus. All these mad schemes fail. The tragic poet then decides to appear as himself and in this capacity he quickly negotiates a peace with the Chorus of women, securing their co-operation with a promise not to insult them in his future plays. The women decline to help him release Mnesilochus (now a prisoner of the Athenian state) but they do agree not to interfere with plans for his escape. Disguised finally as an old lady and attended by a dancing girl and flute player, Euripides distracts the Scythian archer long enough to set Mnesilochus free. The Scythian attempts to apprehend them before they can get clean away but he is steered in the wrong direction by the Chorus and the comedy ends happily. 

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At the start of the play, Agamemnon has second thoughts about going through with the sacrifice and sends a second message to his wife, telling her to ignore the first. Clytemnestra never receives it, however, because it is intercepted by Menelaus, Agamemnon's brother, who is enraged over his change of heart. To Menelaus, this is not only a personal blow (for it is his wife, Helen, with whom the Trojan prince Paris ran off, and whose retrieval is the main pretext for the war), it may also lead to mutiny and the downfall of the Greek leaders should the rank and file discover the prophecy and realise that their general has put his family above their pride as soldiers. The brothers debate the matter and, eventually, each seemingly changes the other's mind. Menelaus is apparently convinced that it would be better to disband the Greek army than to have his niece killed, but Agamemnon is now ready to carry out the sacrifice, claiming that the army will storm his palace at Argos and kill his entire family if he does not. By this time, Clytemnestra is already on her way to Aulis with Iphigenia and her baby brother Orestes, making the decision of how to proceed all the more difficult. The Sacrifice of Iphigeneia (1653) by Sébastien Bourdon Iphigenia is thrilled at the prospect of marrying one of the great heroes of the Greek army, but she, her mother, and the ostensible groom-to-be soon discover the truth. Furious at having been used as a prop in Agamemnon's plan, Achilles vows to defend Iphigenia, initially more for the purposes of his own honour than to save the innocent girl. However, when he tries to rally the Greeks against the sacrifice, he finds out that "the entirety of Greece"—including the Myrmidons under his personal command—demand that Agamemnon's wishes be carried out, and he barely escapes being stoned. Clytemnestra and Iphigenia try in vain to persuade Agamemnon to change his mind, but the general believes that he has no choice. As Achilles prepares to defend Iphigenia by force, Iphigenia, realizing that she has no hope of escape, begs Achilles not to throw his life away in a lost cause. Over her mother's protests and to Achilles's admiration, she consents to her sacrifice, declaring that she would rather die heroically, winning renown as the savior of Greece, than be dragged unwilling to the altar. Leading the chorus in a hymn to Artemis, she goes to her death, with her mother Clytemnestra so distraught as to presage her murder of her husband and Orestes's matricide years later. The play as it exists in the manuscripts ends with a messenger reporting that Iphigenia has been replaced on the altar by a deer. It is, however, generally considered that this is not an authentic part of Euripides' original text.Richard Rutherford, in John Davie (tr.), Euripides: The Bacchae and Other Plays, London, Penguin, 2005, pp. 174, 326–7. "Paley agrees with Porson in regarding the rest of the play after Iphigenia's exit [lines 1510 to the end of the play] as the work of an interpolator". A fragment of the play may indicate that Artemis appeared to console Clytemnestra and assure her that her daughter had not been sacrificed after all, but this Euripidean end, if it existed, is not extant. 

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Futari wa Pretty Cure revolves around two girls, Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro, who encounter the Garden of Light's Mipple and Mepple, who give them the power to transform into the emissaries of light; Cure Black and Cure White, to fight against the forces of the Dark Zone: a dimension of evil that has encroached on the Garden of Light and is now about to do the same to the Garden of Rainbows, Earth. The Cures search for the Prism Stones, placing them in a heart-shaped device known as the Prism Hopish, protected by the Guardian, Wisdom. Once they have discovered all the Prism Stones, its power takes them to the Garden of Light and repairs most of the damage done by the Dark Zone. Later in the series, Porun, the Prince of the Garden of Light, grants the Pretty Cure duo use of their Rainbow Bracelets as they defeat the Dark King. In Max Heart, Nagisa and Honoka meet the mysterious Hikari Kujou, who is soon revealed to be the "Life" of the Queen, whose powers were scattered into the form of twelve "Heartiels" following her battle with the Dark King. Meanwhile, remnants of the Dark Zone are protecting a mysterious boy, who is suspected of being the "Life" of the Dark King. Joined by Hikari, who gains the power to become Shiny Luminous, the Pretty Cures once again fight against the Dark Zone in order to retrieve the Heartiels and restore the Queen. 

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Franz Woyzeck, a lonely soldier stationed in a provincial German town, is living with Marie, the mother of his child who is not blessed by the church as the child was born out of wedlock. Woyzeck earns extra money for his family by performing menial jobs for the Captain and agreeing to take part in medical experiments conducted by the Doctor. At one of these experiments, the Doctor tells Woyzeck that he must eat nothing but peas. Woyzeck's mental health is breaking down and he begins to experience a series of apocalyptic visions. Meanwhile, Marie grows tired of Woyzeck and turns her attentions to a handsome drum major who, in an ambiguous scene taking place in Marie's bedroom, sleeps with her. With his jealous suspicions growing, Woyzeck confronts the drum major, who beats Woyzeck up and humiliates him. Finally, Woyzeck stabs Marie to death by a pond. While a third act trial is claimed by some, notably A. H. J. Knight and Fritz Bergemann, to have been part of the original conception (what may be the beginning of a courtroom scene survives), the fragment, as left by Büchner, ends with Woyzeck disposing of the knife in the pond while trying to clean himself of the blood. Here Franzos inserted the stage direction "ertrinkt" (he drowns), and although this emendation according to Knight "almost amounts to a forgery", most versions employ drowning as an appropriate resolution to the story. 

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The scene represents the front of the temple of Artemis in the land of the Taurians (modern Crimea in Ukraine). The altar is in the center. The play begins with Iphigenia reflecting on her brother's death. She recounts her "sacrifice" at the hands of Agamemnon, and how she was saved by Artemis and made priestess in this temple. She has had a dream in which the structure of her family's house crashed down in ruins, leaving only a single column which she then washed clean as if preparing it for ritual sacrifice. She interprets this dream to mean that Orestes is dead. Orestes and Pylades enter, having just arrived in this land. Orestes was sent by Apollo to retrieve the image of Artemis from the temple, and Pylades has accompanied him. Orestes explains that he has avenged Agamemnon's death by killing Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus. The two decide to hide and make a plan to retrieve the idol without being captured. They know that the Taurians sacrifice Hellene blood in their temple of Artemis. Orestes and Pylades exit. Iphigenia enters and discusses her sad life with the chorus, composed of captive Greek maidens, attendants of Iphigenia. She believes that her father's bloodline has ended with the death of Orestes. A herdsman enters and explains to Iphigenia that he has captured two Hellenes and that Iphigenia should make ready the lustral water and the rites of consecration. The herdsman heard one called Pylades by the other, but did not hear the name of the other. Iphigenia tells the herdsmen to bring the strangers to the temple, and says that she will prepare to sacrifice them. The herdsman leaves to fetch the strangers. Iphigenia explains that she was tricked into going to Aulis, through the treachery of Odysseus. She was told that she was being married to Achilles, but upon arriving in Aulis, she discovered that she was going to be sacrificed by Agamemnon. Now, she presides over the sacrifices of any Hellene trespassers in the land of the Taurians, to avenge the crimes against her. Pylades and Orestes Brought as Victims before Iphigenia (1766) by Benjamin West Orestes and Pylades enter in bonds. Iphigenia demands that the prisoners' bonds be loosened, because they are hallowed. The attendants to Iphigenia leave to prepare for the sacrifice. Iphigenia asks Orestes his origins, but Orestes refuses to tell Iphigenia his name. Iphigenia finds out which of the two is Pylades and that they are from Argos. Iphigenia asks Orestes many questions, especially of Greeks who fought in Troy. She asks if Helen has returned home to the house of Menelaus, and of the fates of Calchas, Odysseus, Achilles, and Agamemnon. Orestes informs Iphigenia that Agamemnon is dead, but that his son lives. Upon hearing this, Iphigenia decides that she wants one of the strangers to return a letter to Argos, and that she will only sacrifice one of them. Orestes demands that he be sacrificed, and that Pylades be sent home with the letter, because Orestes brought Pylades on this trip, and it would not be right for Pylades to die while Orestes lives. Pylades promises to deliver the letter unless his boat is shipwrecked and the letter is lost. Iphigenia then recites the letter to Pylades so that, if it is lost, he can still relay the message. She recites: > She that was sacrificed in Aulis send this message, Iphigenia, still alive, > though dead to those at Argos. Fetch me back to Argos, my brother, before I > die. Rescue me from this barbarian land, free me from this slaughterous > priesthood, in which it is my office to kill strangers. Else I shall become > a curse upon your house, Orestes. Goddess Artemis saved me and substituted a > deer, which my father sacrificed believing he was thrusting the sharp blade > into me. Then she brought me to stay in this land.Euripides. Iphigenia Among > the Taurians. Trans. Moses Hadas and John McLean. New York: Bantam Dell, > 2006. Print. Pages 294-295. During this recitation, Orestes asks Pylades what he should do, having realized that he was standing in front of his sister. Orestes reveals his identity to Iphigenia, who demands proof. First, Orestes recounts how Iphigenia embroidered the scene of the quarrel between Atreus and Thyestes on a fine web. Orestes also spoke of Pelops’ ancient spear, which he brandished in his hands when he killed Oenomaus and won Hippodamia, the maid of Pisa, which was hidden away in Iphigenia's maiden chamber. This is evidence enough for Iphigenia, who embraces Orestes. Orestes explains that he has come to this land by the bidding of Phoebus's oracle, and that if he is successful, he might finally be free of the haunting Erinyes. Iphigenia's escape from Tauris. Ancient Roman relief, end of a marble sarchophagus. Middle of the 2nd century A.D. Orestes, Pylades, and Iphigenia plan an escape whereby Iphigenia will claim that the strangers need to be cleansed in order to be sacrificed and will take them to the bay where their ship is anchored. Additionally, Iphigenia will bring the statue that Orestes was sent to retrieve. Orestes and Pylades exit into the temple. Thoas, king of the Taurians, enters and asks whether or not the first rites have been performed over the strangers. Iphigenia has just retrieved the statue from the temple and explains that when the strangers were brought in front of the statue, the statue turned and closed its eyes. Iphigenia interprets it thus to Thoas: The strangers arrived with the blood of kin on their hands and they must be cleansed. Also, the statue must be cleansed. Iphigenia explains that she would like to clean the strangers and the statue in the sea, to make for a purer sacrifice. Thoas agrees that this must be done, and suspects nothing. Iphigenia tells Thoas that he must remain at the temple and cleanse the hall with torches, and that she may take a long time. All three exit the stage. A messenger enters, shouting that the strangers have escaped. Thoas enters from the temple, asking what all the noise is about. The messenger explains Iphigenia's lies and that the strangers fought some of the natives, then escaped on their Hellene ship with the priestess and the statue. Thoas calls upon the citizens of his land to run along the shore and catch the ship. Athena enters and explains to Thoas that he shouldn't be angry. She addresses Iphigenia, telling her to be priestess at the sacred terraces of Brauron, and she tells Orestes that she is saving him again. Thoas heeds Athena's words, because whoever hears the words of the gods and heeds them not is out of his mind. 

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The game is set in the medieval city of Kyoto around the year 1000, during the Heian period of Japanese history. The game lacks an overall plot, but it instead presents fragmented narratives in a non-linear manner, as the player character encounters various non-player characters while wandering the city. These narratives are cross-referenced to an encyclopedia, providing background information as the narratives progress and as the player comes across various characters and locations, with various stories and related information appearing at distinct locations. Many of the characters in the game are based on real-life characters from the city and their appearances in the game are often loosely based on tales from the Konjaku Monogatarishū. The game deals with religion and philosophy, particularly Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy, as well as myth and legend. 

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In the 1942 Pacific War theater of World War II, Lieutenant Sam Lawson, USN, is a Japanese-language interpreter who — so far — has avoided combat. His commanding officer, Captain John G. Nolan, unexpectedly cancels his leave and informs Lawson that he is to be assigned to a British infantry commando unit in the New Hebrides Islands for a combat mission. The British base is in the middle of a large open field, several hundred yards from the edge of the jungle; on the other side of the jungle is a Japanese observation and communications post. Shortly after Lawson's arrival at the base, a patrol of British soldiers sprint out of the jungle and across the open field, pursued by the Japanese. The base commander, Col. Thompson, instructs his men to keep well back, out of enemy range; they watch as the patrol are cut down by Japanese rifle fire. Lawson's commando group is instructed to destroy the Japanese radio transmitter to prevent them from sounding the alarm about an American naval convoy which is scheduled to appear on the horizon in three days. The post's radio operator transmits an "all's well" signal every night at midnight; it will be Lawson's job to transmit a fake signal (in Japanese) to buy the Allies another 24 hours. The commando group is led by Captain Hornsby, an upper class officer with a history of foolhardiness. The other members of the squad are draftees from Singapore whose enthusiasm for fighting leaves something to be desired: Pvt. Tosh Hearne, a cynical Cockney who is also the squad's medic; Pvt. Jock Thornton, a lean Scot whom Lawson at first considers slightly cracked for skipping on patrol and singing the "Teddy Bears' Picnic", Pvt. Campbell, a fat Glaswegian; grey-haired Sergeant Johnstone; Signalman Scott the radio operator; Pvt. Griffiths, Pvt. Rogers, Pvt. Currie, Pvt. Connolly, Cpl. McLean, and Pvt. Riddle. By the time the squad reaches the Japanese post, Riddle, Connolly, and Currie are dead from a botched ambush -- which, Hearne mutters to Lawson, was entirely due to Hornsby's incompetence: they were positioned on both sides of the trail, and the dead men seem to have been the victims of friendly fire. When Johnstone is wounded in another encounter, Hornsby leaves him behind; shortly thereafter, Johnstone is discovered by the Japanese and his throat slit. After Scott drops and breaks the radio Lawson was to use, Hornsby decides to use the Japanese radio. Lawson flatly refuses to take part in any such scheme, giving the excuse that Hornsby is disobeying their orders with this extemporization. Nevertheless, Hornsby walks boldly into the Japanese camp and enters the radio hut without being spotted; he knocks out the radio operator and motions to Lawson and Scott. Scott goes to the hut, but despite Hearne's urgings, Lawson refuses to go. The Japanese radio operator comes to, and in the ensuing fracas, both Scott and Hornsby are killed. Lawson is now the ranking officer, with only Hearne, Campbell, Jock, Griffiths, and McLean left alive -- and Jock has been wounded in the debacle. Japanese Major Yamaguchi (Takakura) is determined to stop them from reporting the existence of the secret Japanese airfield and planes they have discovered. Through loudspeakers in the trees, Yamaguchi exhorts the men to give themselves up. Lawson and Hearne agree that Yamaguchi is not to be trusted, but Campbell is in favour of surrender, and he works at Griffiths as Jock weakens. Finally, while Lawson and Hearne are asleep, Campbell tries to sneak off into the jungle; but Jock spots him and asks where he's going. Campbell strangles Jock, wakes Griffiths and McLean, and the three of them run off. Yamaguchi attempts to use the lives of Griffiths and McLean as bargaining chips. (Campbell, on the other hand, is killed in gruesome fashion after the Japanese discover he has a ring severed from the finger of one of the officers the patrol ambushed.) As Lawson and Hearne reach the edge of the open field adjacent to the British base, Yamaguchi announces that they have three minutes to surrender; Japanese soldiers have the field covered with rifles and machine guns. Hearne suggests that they give Yamaguchi a taste of his own medicine. They double back and shoot him. They then sprint out across the field. Despite cover fire from the base, first one, then the other is hit. One of them rises and staggers to safety. It is Hearne. When Colonel Thompson asks who the other man was, Hearne replies, "A hero. He killed fifteen Japs single-handed -- thirty, if you like." 

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Helen receives word from the exiled Greek Teucer that Menelaus never returned to Greece from Troy, and is presumed dead, putting her in the perilous position of being available for Theoclymenus to marry, and she consults the prophetess Theonoe, sister to Theoclymenus, to find out Menelaus' fate. Her fears are allayed when a stranger arrives in Egypt and turns out to be Menelaus himself, and the long-separated couple recognize each other. At first, Menelaus does not believe that she is the real Helen, since he has hidden the Helen he won in Troy in a cave. However, the woman he was shipwrecked with was in reality, only a mere phantom of the real Helen. Before the Trojan war even began, a judgement took place, one that Paris was involved in. He gave the Goddess Aphrodite the award of the fairest since she bribed him with Helen as a bride. To take their revenge on Paris, the remaining goddesses, Athena and Hera, replaced the real Helen with a phantom. However, Menelaus did not know better. But luckily one of his sailors steps in to inform him that the false Helen has disappeared into thin air. The couple still must figure out how to escape from Egypt, but the rumor that Menelaus has died is still in circulation. Thus, Helen tells Theoclymenus that the stranger who came ashore was a messenger there to tell her that her husband was truly dead. She informs the king that she may marry him as soon as she has performed a ritual burial at sea, thus freeing her symbolically from her first wedding vows. The king agrees to this, and Helen and Menelaus use this opportunity to escape on the boat given to them for the ceremony. Theoclymenus is furious when he learns of the trick and nearly murders his sister Theonoe for not telling him that Menelaus is still alive. However, he is prevented by the miraculous intervention of the demi- gods Castor and Polydeuces, brothers of Helen and the sons of Zeus and Leda. 

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The game takes place in S.D 346 (A.D 2432), and starts off in a small town of Kratus on the under-developed planet of Roak. There, a few of the local Fellpool (cat-like people) youth, Roddick, Millie, and Dorne, are part of the village's local "Defense Force", who defend the village from minor threats such as thieves and robbers. However, one day, a neighboring town, Coule, starts contracting a terrible disease that turns people into stone. The town healer, Millie's father, contracts the disease while trying to get rid of it, leading the group to search Mt. Metorx for a herb that is rumored to cure any sickness. Dorne unintentionally contracts the disease as well after touching an infected pigeon. When they reach the summit, they are confronted by Ronyx J. Kenny and Ilia Silvestri, two crew members of the Earth Federation (Terran Alliance in the PSP remake) starship Calnus. They inform them that the disease was sent to the planet by a foreign race called the Lezonians, whom the Earth Federation has been at war with. Roddick and Millie go with them on their spacecraft to help them find a cure. They learn that Fellpool blood could be used to process a special, invisible material which could give them a massive advantage in the war. Upon coming in contact with Lezonians, they reveal that they were being forced into war by a shadowy, powerful third party with a disgust for the Federation. Before Dorne fully succumbs to the disease, they do tests on him to figure out a cure. They determined that the only possible way to fight it would be to make a vaccine that uses the original source of the disease. While the origin of the virus is tracked back to being on Roak itself, it is from Asmodeus, the King of the Demon World, who had been killed 300 years prior to the spread of the disease. Ronyx talks the group into using a Time Gate on the Planet Styx to go back 300 years into the past to track down Asmodeus back when he was still alive. While this works, Ilia trips while approaching the gate. As such, Ilia and Roddick have a delay from when they enter the time gate, and after the trip through time, they find themselves separated from Ronyx and Millie. The two groups work towards locating each other, and Asmodeus, in efforts to heal their family members and stop the war. 

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In the Norwegian fishing village of Trollness, occupied by the Nazis, the Norwegian flag is observed flying high over the town by a passing patrol aircraft. The German troops sent to investigate discover that everyone in the village is dead, both German and Norwegian, including the German commander, Captain Koenig, in his office. Previously, the local doctor, Martin Stensgard (Walter Huston) and his wife (Ruth Gordon) wanted to hold on to the pretense of gracious living and ignore the occupiers. The doctor would also prefer to stay neutral, but is torn. Kaspar Torgersen (Charles Dingle), his brother-in-law, the wealthy owner of the local fish cannery, collaborates with the Nazis. The doctor's daughter, Karen (Ann Sheridan), is involved with the resistance and is in a romantic relationship with its leader Gunnar Brogge (Errol Flynn). Johann (John Beal), the doctor's son, has just returned to town having been sent down from the university but is soon influenced by his Nazi-sympathizer uncle. Karen makes it known to the townsfolk that her brother is a "quisling". The key group of resistance members, headed by Gunnar and Karen, anxiously await the secret arrival of arms from an English submarine. They hide the delivery of weapons in a cellar and call upon the townsfolk to delay violence until the opportune moment. Karen, on her way to a resistance meeting, is grabbed by a German soldier and disappears, while Gunnar frantically searches the town for her. She eventually appears at the meeting, clothes torn and face bruised, indicative that she has been raped. Gunnar loses his perspective after seeing what the Germans have done to the woman he loves and begins to go crazy, ordering that the fighting begin. Karen tells him that it is still not yet the time and as he calms down, the radio (which has only been broadcasting static for a week) finally picks up Churchill's broadcast from England, giving them all hope. Karen's father leaves the meeting and, in anger, bludgeons a German soldier to death. Captain Koenig orders the suspected resistance leaders to be shot. On the morning of their execution they are forced to dig their own graves in the town square. They hear singing and discover the townsfolk have armed themselves with the smuggled guns, grenades and other weaponry. The local pastor, who previously had called violent resistance "murder," opens fire from the church tower and the townsfolk follow suit. They successfully capture the port, and load the women and children onto fishing boats bound for England. At the local hotel, which has been used since the occupation as German headquarters, the remaining soldiers prepare for the oncoming attack. Gunnar, Karen, her father, and the other resistance leaders and members make their way through the forest toward the hotel. Karen's brother cries to them from the hotel that they are walking into a machine gun crossfire trap set by the commander. He is shot dead for his efforts by the Germans. After a bloody battle, the rebels eventually capture the hotel and Captain Koenig commits suicide after writing a letter to his brother. The story then reverts to the newly arrived German troops finding the dead bodies of both Germans and Norwegians littered about the town, forest and hotel. They declare that there is no one left alive. Karen and Gunnar, up in the hills, see a German soldier taking down the Norwegian flag and replacing it with a Nazi one. Karen shoots him dead and the Nazi flag falls on his dead body. Gunnar, Karen, her father and the surviving resistance members and townsfolk take shelter in the hills as the voice of President Franklin D. Roosevelt tells his listeners to look to Norway for understanding of the war and the hope and strength of the people. 

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A band of pirates discover a treasure chest full of movie tickets for "The SpongeBob Movie". The pirates cheer and celebrate by singing "the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song" as they head to a theater and see the motion picture. After SpongeBob SquarePants gets a dream of himself imitating in an action film, he wakes up and cheerfully prepares for the opening ceremony for a second Krusty Krab, expecting his boss Mr. Krabs to promote him as the new restaurant manager. Instead, Mr. Krabs names Squidward Tentacles, SpongeBob's next-door neighbor and co-worker, as manager, thinking SpongeBob is too immature to handle the role. Meanwhile, Mr. Krabs' business rival, Plankton, complains to his computer wife Karen about his failures, being unable to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula. When Karen points out plan "Z", a scheme he has yet to attempt, Plankton decides to implement it. That night, SpongeBob drowns his sorrows in ice cream with his best friend, Patrick Star, at the ice cream parlor. Elsewhere, Plankton steals King Neptune's crown, leaving false evidence to frame Mr. Krabs for the crime, and sends the crown to the distant land of Shell City. The next morning, Neptune barges into the Krusty Krab 2 and threatens Mr. Krabs for his alleged thievery. SpongeBob (who is under the influence of an ice-cream hangover) arrives and chastises Mr. Krabs, but seeing his boss' life at risk shocks SpongeBob back to his senses. He promises Neptune that he will retrieve the crown from Shell City. Neptune is convinced by his daughter Mindy to spare Mr. Krabs for the time being and freezes him instead, ordering SpongeBob to return with the crown in exactly six days. SpongeBob and Patrick leave for Shell City. Soon after, Plankton steals the Krabby Patty formula and uses it to produce and sell Krabby Patties at his restaurant, the Chum Bucket. He also gives away free Chum Bucket helmets to his customers, which are actually mind-controlling devices that Plankton activates to control Bikini Bottom's residents and take over the city. Squidward goes to the Chum Bucket to confront Plankton, but is captured and enslaved by the mesmerized customers. After overcoming several setbacks on their journey, including outrunning a ravenous frogfish, SpongeBob and Patrick reach a dangerous, monster-filled trench. When they finally conclude that they cannot finish the mission due to their immaturity, they tearfully give up. Mindy arrives at the trench and tells SpongeBob and Patrick about Plankton's plan. She pretends to magically turn them into men by giving them seaweed mustaches. With their confidence boosted, they brave the trench. However, they are confronted by Dennis, a hitman hired by Plankton to eliminate them. Suddenly, Dennis is stepped on by a hard-hat diver that SpongeBob and Patrick believe to be a Cyclops. The Cyclops grabs SpongeBob and Patrick, and takes them to his beachside store, which turns out to be Shell City. In the store, SpongeBob and Patrick find the crown but are dehydrated and die from the Cyclops' heat lamp. However, their tears short-circuit the lamp's power cord, and its smoke activates the sprinkler system, re-hydrating them and the other dried-up sea creatures intended to be sold as souvenirs. As the vengeful sea creatures attack and overwhelm the Cyclops, SpongeBob and Patrick take the crown and head for the beach, where David Hasselhoff appears and offers them a ride. He swims from the shore to Bikini Bottom, carrying them on his back. Dennis catches up to them, attempting to kill the duo, but is knocked back into the sea by a catamaran. When they arrive at Bikini Bottom, Hasselhoff launches SpongeBob and Patrick down to the Krusty Krab 2. At the Krusty Krab 2, King Neptune arrives to execute Mr. Krabs, much to Plankton's enjoyment and Mindy's horror, but SpongeBob and Patrick return with the crown just before he can do so. The pair and Mindy confront Plankton, but he drops a king-sized mind-controlling bucket on Neptune, enslaving him and revealing that his plan was not just to steal the Krabby Patty formula but also to set Neptune up so he could take over the world. Before Plankton can direct Neptune to kill them, SpongeBob finally accepts his immaturity and performs a rock ballad called "Goofy Goober Rock". This destroys the mind-controlling helmets, freeing King Neptune, Squidward, and the rest of Bikini Bottom's residents from Plankton's control. Plankton is arrested for his crimes, while Neptune thaws out Mr. Krabs, who promotes SpongeBob to manager of the Krusty Krab 2 in gratitude. 

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The novel is set on Earth in the year 2381, when the population of the planet has reached 75 billion people.https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7653-2432-0 Population growth has skyrocketed due to a quasi-religious belief in human reproduction as the highest possible good. Most of the action occurs in a massive three-kilometer- high city tower called Urban Monad 116. 

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The story follows the fate of four Formula One drivers through a fictionalized version of the 1966 Formula One season: * Jean-Pierre Sarti (Ferrari) – A Frenchman who has been world champion twice, is nearing the end of his career and is feeling increasingly cynical about racing itself. * Pete Aron (first Jordan, then Yamura) – An American attempting to repeat past successes and overcome his reputation as a reckless, second-tier driver, he signs with the newcomer Yamura Motors. * Scott Stoddard (Jordan) – A British driver recuperating from a bad crash that left him hospitalized, he becomes dogged by recurrent pains while dealing as well with the emotional turmoil of his rocky marriage. * Nino Barlini (Ferrari) – A charismatic yet arrogant Italian racer, he's Ferrari's No. 2 driver, being a promising rookie and former world motorcycle champion. Subplots in the film revolve around the women who try to live with or love the racers with dangerous lifestyles. The married Sarti begins an affair with an American magazine writer, Louise Frederickson, who initially has little interest in motorsports. Aron has a brief romance with Stoddard's unhappy wife Pat while Stoddard deals with living in the shadow of his family's history, being unsure if he can live up to the prestigious racing legacy of his late brother. The story concludes at the Italian Grand Prix, its winner likely to become world champion. Sarti's wife, Monique, shows up just before it begins, coming face-to-face with Louise and telling Sarti she will never grant him a divorce even as Sarti wishes to end their unhappy union. Sarti's car has technical difficulties at the race's start, with the other drivers facing a close contest for first. Sarti is then suddenly killed in a spectacular crash. His Ferrari teammate, Barlini, is flagged off the course by team leader, Manetta, resulting in a tight race between Aron and Stoddard to the finish line, Aron getting the checkered flag. While a jubilant Aron magnanimously invites Stoddard to the winner's platform to join him, the shock of Sarti's death takes its toll on the celebration. The film ends with Aron, alone, walking along the circuit of the final racetrack. 

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On Mars in the year 2080, five years after the events of Red Faction, the nanotechnology developed by Axel Capek, the head scientist of the Ultor Corporation prior to its fall, has been claimed by the Earth Defense Force (EDF). With this technology, the EDF commences a reorganization of the Ultor Corporation with a particular focus on enhanced supersoldiers and suitable weaponry. However, the research that was done by Capek in his laboratories has been consequently stolen by other militant groups and assorted terrorist organizations. This has gone on for years; the research has changed hands in the criminal underworld many times. The player is introduced to their role as an explosives expert (codenamed "Alias") as he embarks on a special operations mission to claim the research data for the Republic of the Commonwealth. Eventually, the research is successfully claimed by the elite forces of Victor Sopot, Chancellor of the dystopic military state known as The Commonwealth. Sopot uses the nanotechnology to enhance his already formidable military forces, and successfully creates the first supersoldiers with the research data. However, fearing the potential of his new supersoldiers, he orders them all to be hunted down, executed, and replaced with far less intelligent, mutated horrors known as "The Processed". Collectively betrayed by their leader, the player's squad flees underground and ally themselves with the Red Faction as mercenaries. The Red Faction at this point in the story is an organized resistance movement that is strongly opposed to the rule of Sopot and the skewed political tenets of The Commonwealth. The squad eventually pursues Sopot and neutralizes all opposition in their way as the Red Faction takes the conflict to the streets in a joint uprising against the rule of The Commonwealth. During the initial stages of the game, the Red Faction and the squad mutually support each other as they overcome shared objectives such as sabotaging propaganda installations. The uprising culminates in successfully trapping Sopot in his missile silo and executing him. Alias returns to the makeshift base of operations only to discover that all of the Red Faction resistance members present have been brutally slaughtered. The squad's leader, Molov, remarks that with Sopot dead and with the nanotech research in his possession, the Commonwealth's military forces have voluntarily pledged allegiance to him. He declares Alias and Tangier, a fellow squadmember, to be enemies of the state for supporting the Red Faction. Tangier helps Alias escape, and shortly after fleeing to safety, Alias lends aid to surviving Red Faction members who are defending themselves from the enemy. Alias and Echo, another squadmember, meet up in a secret location to discuss an alternate strategy to stop Molov, and Echo is killed in action during a firefight with Quill, a former squadmember. Tangier radios Alias soon afterward, and the two agree to shut down Molov's commandeered nanotech laboratory located within the colossal statue of Sopot. Inside the laboratory, Alias triumphs over Repta, a former squadmember, and destroys the nanotech laboratory's power generators. Alias's explosives weaken the foundation of the statue and render it unstable. Alias encounters Repta again and once again triumphs over him, causing the energy field within Repta to reach critical mass. Alias and Tangier meet up and pursue Molov, who is scaling Sopot's statue with the nanotech cell – the culmination of Capek's research – and awaiting extraction from Shrike, Molov's subordinate. Shrike betrays his commanding officer, and Tangier manages to reclaim the nanotech cell from Molov's possession. Molov, desperate to eliminate his enemies, climbs aboard a nearby battle armor and launches a frenzied assault against Alias. Using the destructible environment to his advantage, Alias manages to evade Molov's fire and launches a counterattack that not only kills Molov, but also destroys the statue. As the statue crumbles, Shrike swoops in with his close air support craft to extract Alias. From this point, the story ends in one of four possible ways, depending on the player's Heroics score. 

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Having solved a high-profile case involving serial killer Edmund Cutler (Leland Orser) that ended with her being taken hostage by Cutler but managing to overpower and arrest him regardless, Jessica Shepard (Ashley Judd) is a rising officer in the San Francisco Police Department. She is transferred to the homicide division and promoted to the rank of inspector. Her deceased father's former partner, SFPD Chief John Mills (Samuel L. Jackson), her foster father, also serves as her proud mentor. Shepard finds that she might once again have to prove herself in a department that takes no prisoners. In addition, Shepard's parents were both killed in the 1970s when she was young as a result of her father murdering her mother's extra-marital lovers then Shepard's mother and himself, an event which scarred her in the past and caused Mills to foster her. When Bob Sherman (Jim Hechim), a minor criminal and one of Shepard's former one-night stands is brutally murdered, Shepard and her new partner, Mike Delmarco (Andy García), are assigned to the case. Shepard, who has a drinking problem, admits that she had slept with Sherman but remains assigned to the case. A few days later however, Lawrence Gebler (Joe Duer), another of Shepard's one-night stands is murdered and soon the police come to the conclusion that the killer is stalking Shepard. At Mills' insistence, Shepard remains on the case so as to bait out the killer. As investigations progress, Shepard keeps having alcoholic blackouts at night, having already had them on the nights when Sherman and Gebler were killed. She confides in these blackouts and her increasing doubts about her mental health to her police psychiatrist, Dr Melvin Frank who was assigned to review her mental state following the Cutler arrest. She also confides this to Mills, who encourages her to carry on. Shepard discovers a third murder, that of Cutler's defense attorney Ray Porter (D.W. Moffett) who was also a former lover of Shepard and had summoned her via note to meet him that morning. As a result, Shepard comes under more suspicion for the crimes, particularly from rival Inspector Dale Becker (Titus Welliver), due to Shepard's relationship with the victims and her occasional flashes of violent behaviour in the line of police duty. Shepard begins to fear that she is becoming like her father and committing similar murders, especially after a fourth murder takes place, SFPD Officer Jimmy Schmidt (Mark Pellegrino) who was another former lover who also had been stalking Shepard, and Shepard wakes up with Schmidt's corpse in her bed. In each case, the murder seems to have been committed using a yawara. Early in the film, there is a scene where Shepard is training in delivering blows with a yawara that appear similar to the blows used to kill the victims. Shepard is arrested and questioned for the murders but is bailed by Mills after blood work evidence undertaken by pathologist Lisa (Camryn Manheim) reveals that Shepard's blood had strong amounts of rohypnol, a date rape drug, in it which means she was incapacitated during the murders and thus cannot have committed them. Mills tells Shepard that he suspects Delmarco of being the killer, Delmarco having grown increasingly close to Shepard during the course of the investigation. The two turn up at Delmarco's quayside home to question him where Mills serves Delmarco wine laced with rohypnol to incapacitate him, upon which Shepard realises that Mills is the true killer based on how he says they're now "in this together" and how he sets up the scene to look as if Delmarco will commit suicide, akin to how her father had looked when he supposedly committed suicide. Mills admits he killed all of Shepard's lovers, as well as her parents and her mother's lovers, because he considered it his mission to prevent her growing up to be a dissolute woman like her mother. As her father's partner, Mills had felt the responsibility to inform him that his wife was a nymphomaniac, which drove him insane. Furthermore, as he himself had an illicit affair with Shepard's mother, Mills felt the need to kill her lovers, ashamed that he helped destroy his partner's marriage and drove him insane. Mills then decided to put him out of his misery by killing him. Shepard secretly transmits Mills's confession to other police officers on a mobile phone, allowing her old partner Wilson (Richard T. Jones) to track them down. When Mills tries to shoot her and Delmarco, Shepard shoots him in the chest, killing him and causing him to fall off a dock into the water. The film closes on Mills's corpse drifting on the water's surface surrounded by sea lions as the cops look on. 

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Screenshot of an Ideon eyecatch 

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A rape victim, comic book artist Lisa Roberts is given the runaround by the New York City Police Department. Tired with city life, she heads for the wide open spaces of Arizona. Not long afterward, she is propositioned by lowlife Randall Atkins. She reports this to sympathetic local policeman Steve Smith, who replies matter-of-factly that this is not the first time that Atkins has been accused of a sexual offense. To her amazement, Roberts is later visited by Atkins, who agitatedly warns her not to trust the sweet- natured policeman. Someone is lying about something, and Roberts plainly does not know what to believe. When she finds out, it is nearly too late. 

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In the year 2142, amnesiac Conrad B. Hart is chased by mutants and crash-lands his hover bike in a jungle on Titan. He finds a holocube which fell from his pocket. It contains a recorded message from himself, telling him to meet his friend Ian in New Washington. He makes his way through the jungle and purchases an anti-gravity belt in order to enter New Washington via chasm. He finds Ian being attacked by police. After he kills them, Ian uses a regenerator to restore Conrad's memories: For his "end of year thesis" he had built glasses which measure molecular density and inadvertently discovered that shapeshifting aliens called Morphs, distinguished by their high density, had mixed into the human population. The Morphs realized he was investigating and targeted him. Anticipating memory erasure, he recorded the holocube, and sent a copy of his memory to Ian. Conrad is determined to return to Earth. Ian tells him that the only way he can afford a ticket to Earth is to win one in Death Tower, a game show in which contestants fight to the death, and false papers are required for a pass. To pay for the forged papers, Conrad takes a series of dangerous jobs in the city. He finds himself continually targeted by police, who have presumably been misled by Morph infiltrators. Conrad wins Death Tower, and travels to Earth. His false papers get him past the checkpoint, but the Morphs soon realize who he is and Conrad is pursued by more cops. He takes a taxi to the Paradise Club, which conceals the Morphs' hideout. He spies on three Morphs through a ceiling vent. They discuss their plan to conquer Earth within hours. Conrad falls through the vent and is taken to a prison cell. Soon, Morphs enter his cell to kill him. Conrad runs past them and picks up a discarded alien gun. Exploring the facility, he discovers a teleporter, and uses it to transport himself to the Morphs' home planet. He finds a human prisoner named Phillip Howard Clark. As he opens his prison, a Morph appears and executes Phillip. Dying, Phillip gives Conrad an atomic charge. Phillip's diary reveals he had planned to destroy the "Master Brain" that controls the aliens, located at the planet's core, but the "Auxiliary Brain" must be destroyed to open up the communication pathways to the Master Brain. Conrad destroys the Auxiliary Brain and finds the Master Brain's pathway. As he arrives at a certain spot, he hears Phillip's voice, telling him that the atomic charge should be placed on a loose platform. After he does so, he throws a switch, awakening the brain to cause a tremor, which drops the charge towards the core. Conrad escapes to the hangar and takes a Morph's spacecraft out of the planet's atmosphere before it detonates. As he cannot navigate home due to the Morphs' galaxy not being on any human star charts, he instead puts himself in suspended animation while his ship drifts into space, leading up to the events of Fade to Black. 

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The novel begins when Janet Evason suddenly arrives in Joanna's world. Janet is from Whileaway, a futuristic world where a plague killed all of the men over 800 years ago, and Jeannine lives in a world that never experienced the end of the Great Depression. Janet finds Jeannine at a Chinese New Year festival and takes her to Joanna's world. Joanna comes from a world that is beginning its feminist movement. Acting as a guide, Joanna takes Janet to a party in her world to show her how women and men interact with each other. Janet quickly finds herself the object of a man's attention, and after he harasses her, Janet knocks the man down and mocks him. Because Joanna's world believes that women are inferior to men, everyone is shocked. Janet expresses her desire to experience living with a typical family so Joanna takes Janet to the Wildings’ household. Janet meets their daughter Laura Rose who instantly admires Janet's confidence and independence as a woman. Laura realizes that she is attracted to Janet and begins to pursue a sexual relationship with her. This is transgressive for both of them, as Whileaway's taboo against cross- generational relationships (having a relationship with someone old enough to be your parent or child) is as strong as the taboo against same-sex relationships on Laura's world. The novel then follows Jeannine and Joanna as they accompany Janet back to Whileaway. They meet Vittoria, Janet's wife, and stay at their home. Joanna finds herself under scrutiny when Vittoria uses a story about a bear trapped between two worlds as a metaphor for her life. Jeannine returns to her world with Joanna, and they both go to vacation at her brother's house. Jeannine's mother pesters her about her love life and whether she is going to get married soon. Jeannine goes on a few dates with some men but still finds herself dissatisfied. Jeannine begins to doubt her sense of reality, but soon decides that she wants to assimilate into her role as a woman. She calls Cal and agrees to marry him. Joanna, Jeannine, Janet, and Laura are lounging in Laura's house. Laura tries to glorify Janet's status in Whileaway, but Janet explains that her world does not value her particularly, but chose her as inter-dimensional explorer because she was more expendable than others ("I am stupid," she explains). At 3 a.m., Joanna comes down, unable to sleep, and finds Jeannine and Janet awake as well. Suddenly they are no longer at Laura's house but in another world. Joanna, Jeannine, and Janet have arrived in Jael's world which is experiencing a 40-year-old war between male and female societies. Jael explains that she works for the Bureau of Comparative Ethnology, an organization that concentrates on people's various counterparts in different parallel worlds. She reveals that she is the one who brought all of them together because they are essentially “four versions of the same woman” (p. 162). Jael takes all of them with her into enemy territory because she appears to be negotiating a deal with one of the male leaders. At first, the male leader appears to be promoting equality, but Jael quickly realizes that he still believes in the inferiority of women. Jael reveals herself as a ruthless assassin, kills the man, and shuttles all of the women back to her house. Jael finally tells the other women why she has assembled all of them. She wants to create bases in the other women's worlds without the male society knowing and eventually empower women to overthrow oppressive men and their gender roles for women. In the end, Jeannine and Joanna agree to help Jael and assimilate the women soldiers into their worlds, but Janet refuses, given the overall pacifism of Whileaway. Jeannine and Joanna appear to have become stronger individuals and are excited to rise up against their gender roles. Janet is not moved by Jael's intentions so Jael suggests Janet that the reason for the absence of men on Whileaway is not because of a plague but because the women won the war and killed all of the men in its timeline's past. Janet refuses to believe Jael, and the other women are annoyed at Janet's resistance. The novel ends with the women separating and returning to their worlds, each with a new perspective on her life, her world, and her identity as a woman. 

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The play begins with the introduction of Electra, the daughter of Clytemnestra and the late Agamemnon. Several years after Agamemnon's death suitors began requesting Electra's hand in marriage. Out of fear that Electra's child might seek revenge, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus married her off to a peasant of Mycenae. The peasant is kind to her and has respected her family name and her virginity. In return for his kindness, Electra helps her husband with the household chores. Despite her appreciation for her husband's kindness, Electra resents being cast out of her house and laments to the Chorus about her struggles with her drastic change in social status. Upon Agamemnon's murder Clytemnestra and Aegisthus put Orestes, the other child of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, under the care of the king of Phocis, where he became friends with the king's son, Pylades. Now grown, Orestes and Pylades travel to Electra and her husband's house. Orestes keeps his identity hidden from Electra, claiming to be messengers of Orestes. He uses his anonymity to determine Electra's loyalty to him and Agamemnon before he reveals his plans for revenge. After some time it is clear that Electra is passionate about avenging the death of their father. At this point the aged servant who brought Orestes to Phocis years before enters the play. He recognizes Orestes because of the scar on his brow and the siblings are reunited. They begin to plot how they will murder both Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. The aged servant explains that Aegisthus is currently in his stables, preparing to sacrifice oxen for a feast. Orestes goes to confront Aegisthus while Electra sends the aged servant to tell Clytemnestra that she had a son ten days ago, knowing this will bring Clytemnestra to her house. A messenger arrives and describes Orestes’ successful murder of Aegisthus. Orestes and Pylades return bearing Aegisthus’ body. As Clytemnestra approaches, Orestes begins to waver on his decision to murder their mother. Electra convinces Orestes that he must fulfill his duty to Agamemnon and murder their mother. When Clytemnestra arrives, Orestes and Electra lure her into the house, where they thrust a sword into her throat. The two leave the house, filled with grief and guilt. As they lament, Clytemnestra's deified brothers, Castor and Pollux, appear. They tell Electra and Orestes that their mother received just punishment but their matricide was still a shameful act, and they instruct the siblings on what they must do to atone and purge their souls. 

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Iris (Collette) is a shy young professional who doesn't want to rock the boat at the office where she temps. Margaret (Posey) is the polar opposite, and serves as a catalyst to help Iris become more assertive. Paula (Kudrow) eagerly awaits post-work happy hours and the chance to flirt with attractive men. Jane (Ubach) is engaged to marry a jerk who is already cheating on her. Margaret hopes to become a permanent employee as an assistant to Mr. Lasky (Bob Balaban), but her dreams are thwarted when he suddenly dies. The four temps form a camaraderie which assists them in getting through their boring and tedious days at work. A series of thefts occur in the office and suspicion falls on the temps, particularly Margaret. When Iris finds a plastic monkey inside Margaret's desk that she had thought was stolen, Iris loses faith in Margaret and believes that she is the office thief. Margaret suggests a one-day strike from work due to mistreatment and being under appreciated as temps, and her friends halfheartedly agree to join her, but on the appointed day Margaret is the only one who does not come to work. As a result, the company's officious head of human resources (Debra Jo Rupp) fires Margaret, and management micromanages the remaining three temps. Iris, Paula and Jane's friendship comes to an end as result of the stress, ending the camaraderie among the temporary workers, and eventually they all go their separate ways. Paula is upset when she learns of Jane's wedding from a newspaper announcement, to which she was not invited, and leaves to work in another department. It is later discovered that another employee (a rich girl who was hired as a permanent employee after her first day) was the thief and that Margaret simply had a similar toy in her desk. Iris confronts the thief when her diary disappears; Iris later receives a new diary and note of apology. When Iris is not hired for a permanent job she really wanted, she quits the temp pool. A senior executive agrees to sign a letter of recommendation for Iris. Iris takes advantage of the fact that executives rarely learn the temps' names, and she tells the executive that her name is Margaret, so that Margaret can finally receive the recommendation she had been striving for as a temp. Iris then mails the letter of recommendation to Margaret with a note. 

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Waiting to Exhale is a story about four African-American women who are good friends: Savannah, Robin, Bernadine, and Gloria. The women get together frequently to support one another and listen to each other vent about life and love. They each want to be in a romantic relationship but they each have difficulties finding a good man. Savannah "'Vannah" Jackson is a successful television producer who believes that one day her married lover will leave his wife for her. She later realizes that he won't, and that she must find her own man who will love her for who she really is. Bernadine "Bernie" Harris, who abandoned her career dream of having a catering business, instead raised a family and supported her husband. He announces he is leaving her for a white woman with whom he works. Robin Stokes is a high-powered executive and the long-time mistress of married Russell. After dumping him, she has problems finding someone suitable. Gloria "Glo" Matthews is a beauty salon owner and single mother. Her ex-husband and the father of her son tells her that he was always bisexual and now realizes he is gay. Gloria eventually falls in love with a new neighbor, Marvin King. The situations all resolve themselves for the better. Savannah ends up dumping her married lover for good. Bernadine gets a large divorce settlement from her ex-husband and finds love with a widowed civil rights attorney who encourages her to pursue her catering dream. Robin ends up pregnant by her married lover, but dumps him, and chooses to raise the baby on her own. Gloria apologizes to her neighbor for snapping at him when he suggested that she should let her son grow up and experience the world. She learns not to be so protective of her son and lets him go on an "Up With People" trip to Spain. She finds love while learning to take care of herself rather than being self-sacrificing in her devotion to her son and her business. 

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The plot is made up of separate yet intertwining story lines revolving around three protagonists – Qiao Feng, Duan Yu and Xuzhu – who become sworn brothers in chapter 41. The complex narrative switches from the initial perspective of Duan Yu to those of the other main characters and back. 

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In 1998, NYPD Detective John Shaft II, relative of private investigator John Shaft I, is called in to investigate the grievous assault of Trey Howard outside of a restaurant. Shaft arrests Walter Wade, Jr., the son of a wealthy real estate tycoon, after noticing blood on him and Wade claims he acted in self-defense. However, Trey's friend tells Shaft that when she and Trey entered the restaurant, Wade racially harassed him. Trey humiliated Wade in response and left the restaurant, and Wade followed after him. Shaft notices a waitress, Diane Palmieri, eyeing Wade and tries to coax a statement from her but she claims to have not witnessed anything and disappears from the scene. When Wade mocks Trey after he dies on the ambulance stretcher, Shaft punches him and is suspended. Later, Wade phones Shaft to taunt him that because of the punch, he was granted bail on the homicide charge and has fled to Switzerland. Two years later, Wade returns to the country and Shaft rearrests him. Shaft's friends throw him a party in celebration where the elder Shaft makes an appearance and proceeds to warn him that Wade's wealth puts him at an advantage to beat the case. During his temporary detention at police headquarters, Wade befriends Peoples Hernandez, a Dominican drug lord whom Shaft previously arrested. At his bail hearing, the judge makes Wade relinquish his passport in exchange for being released on bail again; in frustration, Shaft resigns from the police force, promising to bring Wade to justice on his own terms. Worried that Shaft might find the missing eyewitness, Wade hires Peoples to find and kill her first. Shaft continues his search for Diane, enlisting the help of his friends Detective Carmen Vasquez and taxi driver Rasaan. While visiting Diane's uncooperative mother, Shaft and Carmen realize they are being followed by officers Jack Roselli and Jimmy Groves, whom Peoples has promised a cut of the payment to follow Shaft and get to Diane. In disguise, Shaft and his former colleague, Detective Luger, rob Wade of the money he had gathered to pay Peoples' off by selling some of his deceased mothers 'exclusive' jewelry. They plant the money on Roselli and Groves to make Peoples think he is being double-crossed. However, Roselli and Groves spot Shaft fleeing the scene and realize they are being set up and resume tailing Shaft. Shaft traces a number Diane's mother called and finds Diane being protected by her brothers Mike and Frank. Before they can talk, Peoples' gangbangers attack them. In the shootout, Shaft kills Peoples' younger brother and Mikey is injured. Shaft, Diane, Rasaan, and Frank take shelter at Rasaan's apartment, secretly followed by Roselli and Groves. While at the apartment, Diane admits seeing Wade murder Trey. Wade then made her keep silent in return for a payoff from Wade's father. Meanwhile, Peoples attacks Wade in anger over his brother's death. Peoples and his gangbangers arrive at Rasaan's apartment but Shaft engages them in a shootout and everyone flees through the fire escape. Roselli and Groves try to kill Shaft but Carmen comes up behind them and she kills the corrupt officers at Shaft's command. The shootout spills into the city streets where Shaft and Carmen kill the gangbangers but Rasaan's cab crashes alongside Peoples' vehicle. Peoples takes Diane hostage with an ice pick. Shaft puts his gun down and convinces Peoples not to do Wade's dirty work and instead to have a one on one fight. Peoples releases Diane and drops his ice pick. Peoples makes like he is ready to fight Shaft but then draws his gun from his back; Shaft pulls his backup gun and kills Peoples first. Wade's trial finally arrives. Shaft tells Trey's mother, Carla Howard, that the trial will have a new judge, the D.A. as prosecutor, and an eyewitness. However, before the trial can begin, Carla guns down Wade on the courthouse steps and she is arrested. In the police station, Shaft reiterates to Carmen that he prefers to be a private detective. A woman arrives, asking Shaft for help filing assault charges against her abusive boyfriend. Shaft is initially reluctant, but when he sees her injury, he decides to help her via his methods. Shaft, along with John Shaft I and Rasaan, go together to confront the abusive boyfriend. 

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My Ishmael is presented as the final copy of a book published by Julie Gerchak, who has herself read Ishmael. At the time she begins writing, Julie is sixteen, though during the main plot of her story she is merely twelve years old: "a plucky, resourceful, near- genius with a wobbly home life."http://www.ishmael.org/Interaction/QandA/Detail.CFM?Record=391 Like the narrator of Ishmael, Julie discovers a message in her city's newspaper, which advertises a teacher seeking someone who wishes to save the world. Julie arrives at Room 105 of the Fairfield Building to discover a gorilla, Ishmael, whom she is able to communicate with telepathically. When she asks Ishmael if he will teach her, he is initially ambivalent due to her very young age, though this frustrates Julie and her arguments convince Ishmael that she may indeed be open to his maieutic teaching style. First, Ishmael asks Julie to reflect on why she came to him. She answers that it may be related to her fears about her society's destructive impact on itself and the environment. When urged to tell a story about what she expects to learn with Ishmael, Julie describes a daydream in which she is recruited to go on a space mission to visit other planets and thereby learn solutions around the galaxy for Earth's problems. Next, Ishmael launches into a discussion of "Mother Culture" (the personified notion of the influence of our cultural mythology), our civilization's delusion that our intelligence is a curse inherently propelling us toward making terrible decisions, and our culture's fallacy that all human societies (or, at least, all the "civilized" ones) developed out of a state of foraging to a superior state of farming, neglecting the tribes all over the world who continue the foraging lifestyle. Ishmael refers to humanity in terms of Takers (members of the single, world-dominating culture that destroys other peoples or forces them to assimilate) and Leavers (members of the countless cultures who lived or continue to live in tribal societies). He also examines evolutionary processes and how they tend to maintain behaviors that best sustain some particular gene pool and enforce a sort of equilibrium in which no single organism or group of organisms overwhelms the competition for natural resources. He claims that Takers depart from this self-sustaining balance in that they keep their resources, primarily food, under "lock and key." This, he claims, creates hierarchical social structures in which the cooperative ethos is lost, resulting in distress and conflict within the society, such as crime, suicide, poverty, famine, and senseless violence. He argues that although Taker societies flourish in terms of material wealth-- such as technological advancement and greater scientific progress--they fail utterly with regard to what he believes to be actual wealth: the sense of belonging and security that hold together the fabric of human tribal societies. Julie ultimately learns that she does not need to travel around the galaxy to see ways that human societies can thrive successfully; she needs only to learn from the successes of tribal life. Julie visits Ishmael as often as she can and notices a young man sometimes leaving Ishmael's office. Ishmael explains that this is Alan Lomax, who is later revealed to be the previously unnamed narrator of Ishmael. Julie feels an odd distaste for Alan though she never meets him face-to-face. Ishmael maintains both pupils, though his teachings are not necessarily the same for each. With Julie, Ishmael describes how tribes live alongside other tribes, in a state of what he terms "erratic retaliation," meaning that they revenge their neighbors' acts of aggression but also do not behave too predictably. This allows people to compete effectively for resources while not engaging "in mortal combat for every little thing." Furthermore, Ishmael distinguishes erratic retaliation from war, a feature of Taker societies, which he describes so: "Retaliation is giving as good as you get; going to war is conquering people to make them do what you want." Ishmael also outlines his preference for the Leaver (or tribal) notion of law, which is generally unwritten knowledge of how to deal with undesirable behaviors within the tribe. He explains that this is different from the Taker concept of law because since "tribal peoples didn't waste time with laws they knew would be disobeyed, disobedience was not a problem for them. Tribal law didn't outlaw mischief, it spelled out ways to undo mischief, so people were glad to obey it." Eventually, Ishmael's teachings turn toward the subject of formal education, which he argues is merely a way to keep children out of the work force and is otherwise unnecessary because humans learn on their own, naturally following their own interests and picking up information necessary to operate in their culture. In tribal cultures, this information inherently includes that which is relevant to surviving in the wild by learning to hunt and gather food, as well as easily adopting their culture's values, customs, and so on. In Taker culture, the otherwise automatic process of learning is hindered and convoluted by the institution of formal education, which largely forces students to study topics that they do not apply outside of the classroom and that they therefore largely forget once the information is no longer needed to pass tests or similar evaluations. When Ishmael asserts that humans must strive to belong to effective and secure communities, Julie asks for concrete examples of how this can be achieved. Ishmael praises the utter strength of human innovation, citing positive examples from the Industrial Revolution, and claims that this will lead and has already led to a diversity of models, including the Sudbury school, the Gesundheit! Institute, and intentional communities. He claims that humans must together create these answers little by little and that innovators in fact build upon prior ideas gradually toward eventual progress. He concludes his teachings with an iteration of his philosophy summed up in a single sentence: "There is no one right way for people to live." At this point in the story, Julie is introduced to Art "Artie" Owens, born in the Belgian Congo (later Zaire) of the name Makiadi "Adi" Owona. Owens is a friend of Ishmael who has connections to his African homeland and intends to help Ishmael return to the West African jungle. Owens, since a child, was always a naturalist, during which time he was friends with the revolution-minded Mokonzi Nkemi. Owens educated himself as much as he could, studying in Belgium, becoming a dual citizen of Zaire and Belgium, traveling to the United States, and attending Cornell University, where he met the daughter of Ishmael's benefactor and first human companion. Returning to Zaire, Owens participated in Nkemi's revolutionary founding of the Republic of Mabili, now independent from Zaire. Owens's role as minister of the interior lasted only a few months before he realized Nkemi's corrupt dealings with Zaire's President Mobutu in order to keep his fledgling nation alive. Under penalty of death, Owens fled back to the United States and purchased an animal menagerie, which he now plans to use to house Ishmael after Ishmael's eviction from the Fairfield Building, before his trip back to Africa. Ishmael and Owens, however, must use Julie to request Ishmael's entrance into Mabili from its president, Nkemi. Julie is astounded at first and initially wonders why Ishmael does not ask Alan Lomax to help him instead. However, she eventually agrees to the potentially dangerous five-day trip and begins being drilled on how to act and be wary in African cities and how to converse with Mabili's leaders. In Mabili, Julie speaks to the prime minister who is Owens's estranged brother, Lukombo "Luk" Owona, and then to President Nkemi himself. Posing as an American student who has won an essay-writing contest promising her a trip to Mabili to meet its president, Julie claims that Ishmael is a gorilla famed in the United States who has gained a following of people that she represents and who wish to see him successfully released back into the wild. When Nkemi asks what he will get in return for helping Julie with this favor, she charms Nkemi with a parable asserting that they are bringing back to the land a beloved creature that was once lost. Julie returns to the U.S. and ultimately hears from Owens that Ishmael's migration to Africa is successful. She hears also about Alan Lomax, who was becoming too attached to Ishmael as a pupil and not seeming to understand his own need to become a teacher. With this in mind, Alan is told that Ishmael has died; such a ploy is regarded as successful, since it motivates Alan to write the book Ishmael in 1992 (in which Ishmael's death is noted near the end). Although Julie wishes to publish her own book--this very story--Owens forbids her from doing so until Mobutu's regime (and with it, Nkemi's) is on the verge of collapse. This is because, according to Alan's Ishmael, Ishmael is dead and so his magnificence will not be taken seriously; Ishmael will not be hunted down by Nkemi, who has heard of Ishmael being in his country, if Ishmael is presumed dead. Finally, however, in 1997 (when Julie is eighteen years old) Owens contacts Julie, telling her that Mobutu's days are numbered and she may finally publish My Ishmael. 

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During World War II, Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale (Borgnine) is the commanding officer of the U.S. Navy PT boat PT-73, stationed at the Pacific island base Taratupa. In the late spring of 1942, the Japanese heavily bomb the island, destroying the base. Only 18 of 150 naval aviators and marines on the base survive. With Japanese patrols in the region too heavy for a Navy rescue mission, McHale and his men survive by hiding on the island. Assisted by the native tribes whom they befriend, the sailors live a pleasant island existence. After months of leisurely life, strait-laced, by-the-book Annapolis graduate Lieutenant Durham (Ron Foster) parachutes onto the island. His job is to assume duties as McHale's executive officer and help him get the base on Taratupa back into action. Ron Foster as Lieutenant Durham and Ernest Borgnine as McHale from "Seven Against the Sea," 1962 Durham faces an uphill battle: The men have gone native. One man has started a native laundry service, and McHale operates a still, making moonshine for the men and the natives. In addition, McHale is friendly with the native chief and even bathes with him. When Durham informs McHale of his orders, McHale refuses to follow them. It is clear that while McHale is as loyal as any American, following the devastation the Japanese rendered on the island attack, he is reluctant to risk losing more men. His concern now is for their survival until they can be rescued, which creates friction between Durham and McHale. When they get word that a Marine battalion is pinned on a beach and an enemy cruiser is planning to attack the beachhead in the morning, McHale's attitude changes. McHale is ordered to use all their boats to protect the beachhead and the Marines, but he has no boats, since the Japanese sank them all. However, McHale manages to capture a Japanese PT boat patrolling the island. Surprising the men and Durham, McHale does not plan to use the boat to evacuate his men or the Marine battalion. Instead, he will attack and destroy the Japanese cruiser. He estimates that since they are on a Japanese boat, flying a Japanese flag, they can move in and torpedo the cruiser twice and send it to the bottom. "Seven Against the Sea" is available for public viewing at the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio) in New York City and Los Angeles. 

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The basic plot revolves around McHale's crew's wacky schemes to make money, get girls and have a ball, and the efforts of Captain Binghamton (McHale's superior) to rid himself of the PT-73 crew for good, either by transfer or court martial. Although they are forever getting into trouble, they (almost always unwittingly) get out of trouble. Despite their scheming, conniving, and often lazy and unmilitary ways, McHale's crew is always successful in combat in the end. This bears close resemblance to the British radio programme The Navy Lark, broadcast around the same period. The entire show is based on only two locations, one in the South Pacific at a fictional base called Taratupa-- the inferred location (first episode) are islands south of New Zealand and an equally fictional town in Italy called Voltafiore. The first few episodes merely indicate it is "somewhere in the South Pacific 1943." While in the South Pacific, McHale's crew lives on "McHale's Island," which is described as across the bay from Taratupa. It keeps them away from the main base, where they are free to carry out their antics and even fight the war. In the final season, Binghamton and the entire PT-73 crew move to the liberated Italian theater to the town of Voltafiore "in Southern Italy" "in late 1944." 

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Beggars in Spain and its sequels take place in a future where genetic engineering has become a reality, and society and culture face the consequences of genetic modifications (genemods), particularly in the United States. The story revolves around the existence of the "Sleepless": individuals genetically modified to not need sleep, who have greater potential for intelligence and accomplishment than ordinary humans, called "Sleepers". The world of Beggars in Spain is also powered by cold fusion, named "Y-energy" after its pioneer Kenzo Yagai. Yagai also founded "Yagaiism", a moral worldview Kress based on Objectivism, in which dignity is solely the product of what a person can achieve through his or her own efforts, and the contract is the basis of society. As a corollary, the weak and unproductive are not owed anything. The novel's title comes from its primary moral question, as presented by character Tony Indivino: what do productive and responsible members of society owe the "beggars in Spain", the unproductive masses who have nothing to offer except need? This is underscored by the rift between the Sleepers and the Sleepless; the Sleepless are superior in mind and body, and easily capable of outperforming their normal cousins. All men are not created equal. Where, then, is the line between equality and excellence? How far should any superior minority hold themselves back for fear of engendering feelings of inadequacy in their inferiors?--especially if this minority is not hated and feared, but rather the elite? This question is explored, but not elaborated on by the novel. Nancy Kress has explained that the book, and the trilogy generally, grapples with the conflicting principles of Ayn Rand on one hand and Ursula K. Le Guin's picture of communist-like community on the other.http://www.sfsite.com/10b/nk91.htm 

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The plot follows a nonlinear course through time and space. It imagines an alternate history in which Captain James Misson's Libertatia lives on. His way of life is based on The Articles, a general freedom to live as one chooses, without prejudice. The novel is narrated from two different standpoints; one set in the 18th century which follows a group of pirate boys led by Noah Blake, who land in Panama to liberate it. The other is set in the late 20th century, and follows a detective tracing the disappearance of an adolescent boy. 

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Upon returning home early from a business trip, attorney Mitch Martin walks in on his girlfriend Heidi watching porn. Initially relieved, it turns out she has planned an orgy. Learning she regularly partakes in them, he decides to break up with her. A few days later, Mitch encounters his high school crush, Nicole, at the wedding of his friend Frank and makes an awkward impression. Later, he moves into a house located near the campus of the fictional Harrison University in Upstate New York. Mitch's other friend Bernard throws a housewarming party at Mitch's house, dubbed Mitch-A-Palooza, which is a huge success. Frank gets drunk and is seen streaking by his wife Marissa and her friends, putting a strain on their new marriage. The following morning, the trio run into an old acquaintance whom they used to ridicule at school: Gordon Pritchard, who is now the college dean. He informs them they must vacate the house because it's exclusively for campus housing. Bernard proposes starting a fraternity that is open to anyone to meet the housing criteria. The new fraternity carries out several hazing events throughout campus, attracting the attention of Pritchard and other faculty members. At a birthday party for one of Bernard's children, Nicole brings her boyfriend Mark and Mitch later walks in on him in the bathroom as he hooks up with another girl. While initially discreet, Mitch is forced to recount the incident to Nicole when Mark lies that the girl was with Mitch instead of himself. Later, the oldest fraternity member, Blue, dies of a heart attack during a "KY lube wrestling" match with two college girls at his birthday celebration. At Blue's funeral, Marissa asks Frank for a divorce. Plotting revenge against the group, Pritchard asks the student council president, Megan, to revoke the fraternity's charter. Megan, who met her boyfriend at one of their parties, initially remains loyal to the fraternity until the dean bribes her with promises to help her get into Columbia Law School. By video, he claims that the group is violating university policies, subjecting the students in the non-sanctioned fraternity to expulsion. Mitch learns that the group has the right to bypass the Pritchard's ruling if all of their members complete various activities to prove their legitimacy. Frank is able to defeat James Carville in a debate session. Next, the fraternity successfully navigates its way through an academic exam largely due to the assistance of two of Mitch's co-workers, who help everyone cheat. In the school spirit evaluation, the fraternity loses points when Frank unsuccessfully attempts to jump through a ring of fire while dressed as the school mascot. He catches fire, resulting in a couple of firefighters being summoned. Afterwards, Megan confronts Pritchard, telling him that she sabotaged the civilian fraternity's charter, but she wasn't accepted into Columbia Law School. Pritchard walks away, leaving Megan with nothing - but not before telling her, "I bribe people all the time, but I changed my mind. It's a free country, okay? Lesson learned." Burned and humiliated, Frank rallies to give a strong performance in the floor exercise routine of the gymnastics competition. Bernard manages to complete the rings routine, leaving only the vault exercise remaining. Pritchard chooses Weensie, an obese member of the fraternity, to perform the vault. Weensie executes a perfect landing, allowing the fraternity to pass gymnastics. The fraternity completes the activities with an 84% average. However, Pritchard tells them that their average has dropped to a failing 58% after accounting for the absence of Blue. While the students are in despair, Megan arrives with tape recorded evidence of Pritchard's bribery. After a chase throughout campus, Frank obtains the tape and uses it to get Pritchard fired. The fraternity's charter is reinstated and moves into Pritchard's former residence. Nicole visits Mitch as he moves out of the old fraternity house, and tells him she dumped Mark after catching him cheating. The two reconcile, intent on moving their relationship forward. Mitch and Bernard decide to withdraw from the fraternity. Frank, now divorced, takes over the leadership role. 

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Weary of continuous losses in tournament battle, Shao Kahn, who lost to Liu Kang in the Outworld tournament in the previous game, enacts a 10,000-year-old plan. He would have his Shadow Priests, led by Shang Tsung, revive his former Queen Sindel, who unexpectedly died at a young age. However, she would not be revived in the Outworld, but in Earthrealm. This would allow Shao Kahn to cross the boundary lines and reclaim his queen. When Sindel is reincarnated in Earthrealm, Shao Kahn reaches across the dimensions to reclaim her, and as a result, Earthrealm gradually becomes a part of Outworld, instantly stripping billions of their souls. Only a few are spared, as Raiden protects their souls. He tells them that Shao Kahn must be stopped, but he cannot interfere; due to his status, he has no power in Outworld, and Earthrealm is partially merged with Outworld. Shao Kahn has unleashed extermination squads to kill any Earthrealm survivors. Also, Raiden's protection only extends to the soul, not to the body, so his chosen warriors have to fight the extermination squads and repel Shao Kahn. With his final defeat, every human on Earthrealm is restored. Mortal Kombat 3 follows Mortal Kombat II and shares continuity with both Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy which were both updates of this game. The next new chapter in the series was Mortal Kombat 4. The game also contains several subplots: * Having defeated Shao Kahn in Outworld, Liu Kang now finds himself as the prime target of Shao Kahn's extermination squads. In response to the upcoming threat, he aligns himself with Kung Lao and leads the rebellion against Shao Kahn and his Outworld minions. However, he also has an ulterior motive: he seeks to free Kitana's home realm of Edenia. * With the latest advancements in human technologies, the Lin Kuei decide to automate their human assassins into soulless machines. Four ninjas, Cyrax, Sektor, Smoke, and Sub-Zero, are selected to serve as the first automation prototypes, but Sub- Zero and Smoke refuse to participate, forcing them to leave the clan. Unfortunately, Smoke is captured and is automated along with Sektor and Cyrax and all three are programmed to hunt down and kill Sub-Zero. Meanwhile, learning of the looming Outworld threat, Sub-Zero joins the rebellion against Shao Kahn. * Jax discovers the location of both Sonya and Kano while in Outworld, and in freeing Sonya, he also frees Kano. Knowing that his near future means arrest, Kano uses this opportunity to escape into the depths of Outworld and ultimately joins Shao Kahn's forces. Sonya and Jax return to Earth and try to warn their government about the looming Outworld threat, but when their pleas are ignored, Sonya and Jax instead prepare themselves for the upcoming war by joining the rebellion. * Despite both serving Shao Kahn, the Centaurs and Shokan have been at war with each other for years. Suspicions arise when Sheeva, who is appointed Sindel's bodyguard, learns that Motaro is appointed as Kahn's General in his armies. With the apparent, yet unconfirmed, "deaths" of both Kintaro and Goro, Sheeva begins to fear for her own race and makes plans to turn against Kahn should her suspicions prove to be true. * Largely dependent on a respirator and an undying thirst for revenge against the Black Dragon clan (who he believes was responsible for his brutal attack), Kabal joins the rebellion upon learning of Kano's survival. * Though he realizes that he is the lone survivor of New York City following the Outworld Invasion, Stryker remains ignorant as to why he survived the attack. However, upon receiving a vision from Raiden and being informed of what has transpired, Stryker decides to find and join the other Earthrealm warriors. * For many years, Nightwolf received visions that foretold and warned him of the upcoming invasion. Largely ignoring them, he feels guilty for not preventing it, and so joins the human offensive against Kahn by casting a magical protection over his ancestors' traditional homeland in North America. This region becomes a threat to Kahn's occupation of Earth. * Johnny Cage was hunted down by one of Shao Kahn's extermination squads and killed, apparently by Motaro. 

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Dandelion Wine is a series of short stories loosely connected to summer occurrences, with Douglas and his family as recurring characters. Many of the chapters were first published as individual short stories, the earliest being The Night (1946), with the remainder appearing between 1950 and 1957. For chapters which began as short stories, their original titles are given in parentheses below. 

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This fear reached its high point in the late 1630s and early 1640s, when Thomas Wentworth, a minister of Charles I, was known to be planning widespread new plantations. A crisis point was reached in 1641, when the Scottish Covenanters and English Long Parliament threatened to invade Ireland to finally subdue Catholicism there. In this atmosphere of fear and paranoia, Felim O'Neill became involved in a plot hatched by fellow Gaelic Irish Catholics from Ulster, to seize Dublin and swiftly take over the other important towns of Ireland. After this, they planned to issue their demands for full rights for Catholics and Irish self-government in the King's name. O'Neill's role was to take towns and fortified places in the north of the country. O'Neill was a latecomer to the plot, brought into it by Lord Maguire in early September 1641. On 28 Oct 1641 he surprised Caulfield in Charlemont Fort. O'Neill was instrumental in shaping many of the political objectives of the rebellion.Lenihan p.20 He rapidly assumed command of the Ulster rising, whereas Maguire was tasked with seizing Dublin Castle.Lenihan p.27 

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Set in the second half of the 22nd century, Mars has been 84% terraformed, allowing humans to walk on the surface without pressure suits. Martian society has become matriarchal, with women in most positions of authority. The story concerns police officer Lt. Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge), who is sent to a remote mining outpost to transport prisoner James 'Desolation' Williams (Ice Cube). Arriving at the remote mining town, Ballard & her team find that all of the people are missing. She learns that they had discovered an underground doorway created by an ancient Martian civilization. When the door was opened, it released disembodied spirits or "ghosts", which took possession of the miners. The possessed miners commit horrific acts of death and destruction, along with self-mutilation. When team leader Helena Braddock (Pam Grier) is murdered, Ballard must assume command, fight off the possessed miners, escape the town and hopefully destroy the ghosts. Unfortunately, killing a possessed human merely releases the Martian spirit to possess another human. The team eventually decides to blow up a nuclear reactor to vaporize all of the ghosts. Ballard's crew, along with survivors who gathered in the jail, are eventually wiped out by the miners. At one point, Ballard is nearly possessed, but resists when she is given a drug and discovers that the spirits are attacking them as they believe that the humans are invaders and plan to exterminate the humans on Mars (it is presumed that the spirits are unaware of the fact that Martian life has died out). Only Ballard and Williams are left after Sergeant Jericho and the other officers, along with the two train operators, are killed when they try to finish the fight by causing the settlement's nuclear powerplant to go critical, turning it into a small atomic bomb. Not wanting to be blamed for the massacre, Williams handcuffs Ballard to her cot and escapes from the train. Returning home, Ballard delivers her report, which her superiors refuse to believe. While Ballard recuperates in the hospital, the released spirits, unharmed from the nuclear explosion, attack the city. Ballard and Williams are going to fight to stay alive. 

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A team of Vatican-sponsored vampire hunters led by Jack Crow rids an abandoned house of vampires in the middle of New Mexico during a daylight raid. The team uses a coordinated method of using battle pikes as harpoons, spearing vampires within the house so that a mechanical winch can pull them outside into the daylight. After clearing the house, the team celebrates at a local hotel with drinking and prostitutes, to the disapproval of the priest assigned to the team. Crow defends the celebration, stating that given the horrors the team witnesses on a daily basis, this is an effective way to blow off steam. During the height of the party, with most of the team drunk, they are attacked swiftly by a master vampire called Valek, who kills everyone except for Crow and Tony Montoya, as well as a prostitute named Katrina who was bitten by Valek. Crow realizes that Valek was tipped off to their location by a mole, and orders Montoya to hole up in a hotel with Katrina, to use her growing psychic link with Valek to track him down. After burning down the motel the team had stayed in, Crow reports to his superior Cardinal Alba. Alba instructs him to form a new team, as Valek has slaughtered the other US-based vampire hunters, and has Father Adam Guiteau accompany him. Crow reluctantly takes Guiteau with him, but refuses to form a new team, still committed to killing Valek and suspecting Alba and Guiteau are hiding something from him. Montoya explains to the gradually changing Katrina what is happening to her. Horrified, she attempts to commit suicide, but Montoya rescues her, being bitten by her in the process. Crow and Guiteau arrive at the hotel, and Montoya keeps his bite wound a secret. Crow threatens to kill Guiteau, recounting he had been forced to kill his own father after he had transformed into a vampire and killed Jack’s mother in front of him. Guiteau reveals that Valek is seeking an ancient relic called the Black Cross of Berziers and that Valek was once a priest who incited a rebellion against the Catholic Church; Valek’s rebellion failed, and the Church, believing he was possessed by demons, attempted to perform a forbidden method of exorcism on him using the Bérziers Cross. The exorcism went wrong, and transformed Valek into the first vampire; Valek now plans to complete the exorcism and give himself immunity to sunlight, making him unstoppable. Using Katrina's psychic link, Jack, Montoya and Guiteau find out that Valek has seized the cross and they arrive at an abandoned Spanish town. They discover that Valek has transformed the town’s population into vampires, and they are hiding inside an old Spanish prison. They a age to kill several vampires, but are attacked by Valek; Crow is captured and Katrina turns into a vampire and bites Montoya on the throat, while Guiteau hides. Valek reveals that the ritual requires the blood of a crusader, Jack, and the participation of a priest, Cardinal Alba, who was the mole, having become a traitor after suffering a crisis of faith in the hopes of gaining immortality by being turned. Guiteau kills Alba before he can finish the ritual. Montoya and Guiteau then rescue Crow as the sun rises, and Crow heads off to confront Valek, whom he kills by ramming the Berziers cross into his chest and exposing him to sunlight, which causes Valek to explode. Guiteau realizes that Montoya is about to turn into a vampire now that he has been bitten by Katrina, but Crow knows that Montoya has been loyal to him and so decides to take Montoya's fate in his hands, telling Montoya that after two days he will hunt down and kill both him and Katrina. After Montoya and Katrina leave, Jack and Guiteau head off once again to kill the rest of the vampires that made it to shelter. 

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A human ship is sent to investigate a distress signal sent 212 years ago from the previously unknown planet. The mother ship is destroyed and nearly all of the crew killed in a surprise missile attack (in some editions the mother ship and its crew do not appear). Only two scouts survive, crash-landing on Tschai in their damaged scout-boat. After his companion is killed by human nomads early on, Adam Reith is left stranded alone on an unknown world. The four books describe the attempts of a man of singularly strong will and resource to return to Earth: in the first book to recover his damaged spacecraft, in the second to steal one, in the third to build one, and in the fourth to escape the Pnume, by whom he is kidnapped before he can depart Tschai. In the process, he overcomes the obstacles of dealing with four different alien races and various human groups, often profoundly disrupting the societies, human and alien, with which he is forced to deal. Reith acquires two faithful human companions in the course of his travels: Traz Onmale, the dour, proud boy-chieftain of a nomad race obsessed with emblems, and a renegade Dirdirman, Ankhe at Afram Anacho, who is loquacious, fastidious and flamboyant. (Vance has said that the novels were commissioned as a juvenile series, which was why he included Traz; but the action is no less 'adult' than in his other works.) Anacho and Traz play lesser roles in the fourth book, which chronicles Reith's adventures in the underground world of the Pnume, and subsequently on the surface with the rescued Pnumekin woman Zap 210. Romantic interest is provided both by Zap 210 and by the aristocratic Flower of Cath, who features in the first two novels. The third novel also introduces a villain in the fat and avaricious contractor Aila Woudiver. Tschai, like Earth, is a world of several discrete continents. The action covers most of the planet, and the second and fourth books describe lengthy sea voyages taken by Reith and his companions. Vance described blue- water sailing as one of his favorite recreations. The vast teeming planet with its clashing civilizations and multifarious cultures affects Reith to the point that he realizes that if he succeeds in returning to Earth, his life will seem dull and colourless in comparison. 

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Jerry Renault is a freshman attending an all-boys Catholic high school called Trinity, while coping with depressive feelings and existential questions that stem largely from his mother's recent death and his father's enduring grief. Jerry is quickly recruited onto Trinity's football team, where he meets Roland "The Goober" Goubert, a fellow freshman and instant friend. Trinity's vice-principal, Brother Leon, has recently become acting headmaster and overextends his rising ambition by committing Trinity to selling double the previous year's amount of chocolates during an annual fundraising event, quietly enlisting the support of Archie Costello, the genesis and leader behind The Vigils: the school's cruelly manipulative secret society of student pranksters. Archie arrogantly plans to alternate between betraying and supporting Leon in a frenzied series of power plays. His first "assignment" is to incite Jerry to refuse to sell any chocolate for ten days. However, Jerry, inspired after reading a quotation inside his locker: "Do I dare disturb the universe?" from T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," feels strangely determined to sell nothing even after the ten days have passed, thus estranging himself from both Leon and The Vigils. At first, Jerry's refusal to cooperate with the corrupt school culture and fundraiser is seen by many classmates as heroic, but the gesture threatens Brother Leon and The Vigils' ability to coerce the student population. Leon presses Archie to put The Vigils' full force behind the chocolate sales and so they set up Jerry as an enemy for the rest of the student body to harass through bullying, prank calls, and vandalism. Only The Goober remains Jerry's friend but does little to protect him. Ultimately, Archie enlists the school bully Emile Janza to beat up Jerry just outside the school, but, even in the aftermath, Jerry maintains his defiant nonconformity. Finally, Archie concocts a showdown: a boxing match at night between Jerry and Emile. On the football field, the match is watched by all students, who can select which blows will be laid during the fight through a randomized lottery system; however, the fight ends when a teacher shuts down the electrical power on the field, and Jerry is brutally injured in the ensuing darkness. Half- conscious, he tells The Goober that there was no way to win and he should have just complied, conceding that it is best, after all, not to "disturb the universe." Though Archie is apprehended as the mastermind of the fight, Brother Leon intervenes on his behalf and privately praises his efforts in the unprecedented success of the chocolate sales. Leon implies that next year, if he is officially made the new headmaster, he will work to preserve Archie's power. 

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Continuing from The Rocky Horror Picture Show are the characters of Brad and Janet Majors (now portrayed by Cliff De Young and Jessica Harper), now married. The film takes place in the town of Denton, USA, which has been taken over by fast food magnate Farley Flavors (also De Young). The town of Denton is entirely encased within a television studio for the DTV (Denton Television) network. Residents are either stars and regulars on a show, cast and crew, or audience members. Brad and Janet, seated in the audience, are chosen to participate in the game show Marriage Maze by the kooky, supposedly blind host Bert Schnick (Barry Humphries). As a "prize", Brad is imprisoned on Dentonvale, a soap opera that centers upon the local mental hospital run by brother and sister Cosmo and Nation McKinley (Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn). Janet is given a taste of showbiz as Farley molds her into a singing diva superstar in an attempt to take her away from Brad. Her compliance is assured through the use of drugs supplied by the McKinleys. Betty Hapschatt (Ruby Wax) and Judge Oliver Wright (Charles Gray) investigate Farley and other people involved in DTV and eventually discover that Cosmo and Nation are not doctors, but merely character actors, and Farley Flavors is Brad's jealous, long-lost twin brother, seeking to destroy Brad and take Janet for himself. The pair rescue Brad from Dentonvale and have him confront his twin on his show Faith Factory. Farley imprisons the three and Janet, but they manage to escape in a car along with a local band while the remainder of Denton's citizens follow Farley and commit themselves to Dentonvale. 

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Springfield Elementary School holds a casino night as a fundraiser, hosted by student body president Martin Prince. Homer wins big, but when Martin says his winnings can only be redeemed for cafeteria scrip and not real money, the angry casino patrons riot. After the chaos has cleared, Principal Skinner tells Martin he must resign as the president. An election for a new president is announced and Lisa signs up. However, initially popular Nelson Muntz is favored to win. During a debate in the school auditorium, she sings a song ("Vote For a Winner", a parody of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina") about how she will fight for student rights, winning them over. Lisa easily wins the election. Worried by her determination and popularity, the faculty discusses how to control her. Following Mrs. Krabappel's suggestion that a woman's weakness is vanity, they sing another song ("I Am Their Queen", a spoof of "Rainbow High") and make Lisa over into a fashionable Eva Perón lookalike. She is initially resistant, but gives in since she reasons she will still be able to fight for the kids. The students love the new Lisa more than ever, but the faculty uses her as a scapegoat for dropping music, gym, and art from the curriculum to save on the budget. Facing an outraged student body, Lisa resigns as president, goes back to her old red dress and spiky hair, and leads the students into a strike. Filmmaker Michael Moore shows up to take their side, stating that children who do not receive music, gym and art are more likely to become unemployed and end up in one of his movies. The police arrive at the school, but Lisa convinces them to take their side too. Realizing there is no other way out of the crippling strike other than disposing of Lisa, Skinner has her transferred to a school for the "Academically Gifted and Troublesome". As her bus departs, her classmates and the rest of Springfield are saddened, but she reassures them by telling them that "[they] can still reach [her] via email ("Smart Girl Six Three", a parody of "Eva's Final Broadcast"). Just as Lisa arrives at her new school, Homer pulls up and refuses to let her attend, not wanting to deal with the extra driving time. Springfield Elementary is eventually able to restore music, art and gym by cancelling flu shots and selling loose cigarettes. As an endnote, the writers say that at the advice of their lawyers, they have absolutely no knowledge about a musical based on the life of Eva Perón. 

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Teenage lovers Jordan White and Amy Blue pick up a handsome drifter named Xavier Red while driving home from a club. Jordan gives Xavier the nickname "X". A late-night stop at a convenience store leaves the three on the run when X accidentally kills the store's owner, forcing the trio to hide in a motel to avoid arrest. While Jordan and Amy have sex in the bathtub, X learns from the local television news program that the store owner's wife disemboweled her children with a machete before committing suicide, thus, he concludes, removing any possibility of the trio being caught by the police. Later that evening, Amy has sex with X, even though they do not get along. Eventually Jordan finds out, and things become tense as the two men develop a lingering sexual attraction for one another. As the trio journeys around the city of Los Angeles, they continue to get into violent situations due to people either claiming to be Amy's previous lovers or mistaking her for such. The FBI has a meeting and declares it will find Amy and kill her (exactly the same sentiment is voiced by several other parties in the film). She is mistakenly identified by a fast food window clerk as "Sunshine" and later by a character played by Parker Posey as "Kitten". Jordan, Amy and X spend the night in an abandoned warehouse, where they engage in a threesome. While Amy goes to urinate, Jordan and X are attacked by a trio of neo-Nazis, one of whom had previously mistaken Amy for his ex-girlfriend "Bambi". The gang proceeds to beat up X and then hold Jordan down as the aforementioned neo-Nazi ties up and rapes Amy on top of an American flag. The group finally castrates Jordan pruning shears and forces his severed penis into his mouth. After Amy breaks free, she kills the neo-Nazis with the shears and escapes with X, leaving Jordan for dead. The film ends with Amy and X driving aimlessly on the road. 

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On a cold Sunday morning, Marge gathers the family to go to church. Homer refuses to go, much to her annoyance and dismay, after he sees the weather outside and accidentally tears his church trousers. He stays behind as he sleeps in late, dances in his underwear, makes his special waffle recipe, wins a radio trivia contest, watches an action-packed football game, and finds a penny. Homer attributes his good fortune to skipping church and declares it the best day of his life. Meanwhile, Marge and the kids shiver their way through the sermon, only to find themselves trapped at the end since the door has frozen shut. The congregation is forced to stay longer while Groundskeeper Willie defrosts the doors, and then Marge is unable to start her car. When she and the children finally get home, Marge tries to persuade Homer to go to church again. That night, Marge prays for her husband at their bedside. Homer tries to seduce her while she is doing so, but then falls asleep suddenly and has a dream in which God personally appears to him. God is enraged with Homer for forsaking His church, but agrees to let Homer worship in his own way. Homer starts following his own religion tailored to his personal tastes, including holidays he invents to get out of work. Marge, Reverend Lovejoy and Ned attempt without success to bring Homer back to the congregation. One Sunday morning, while everybody else is at church, Homer falls asleep on the couch smoking a lit cigar, which ignites magazines and ultimately sets the whole house ablaze. Homer wakes up but quickly succumbs to the toxic smoke and faints. Apu, chief of Springfield's volunteer fire department, rushes to the Simpson house with other firefighters including Krusty the Clown, Chief Wiggum, and Barney. Meanwhile, Ned runs into the burning house to rescue Homer and pulls him out just as the firefighters arrive. After the fire is extinguished, Homer declares that God was delivering vengeance. Reverend Lovejoy counters that God was working through Homer's friends, despite their different faiths. Homer agrees to give church another chance and the next Sunday is there, yet snoring loudly through the service. God consoles Homer on the failure of his religion, by telling Homer the meaning of life at the ending credits. 

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SilverFin is broken up into three parts in addition to a prologue. In the prologue, an unnamed school boy is attacked by eels, attracted to a bleeding fishhook cut, while fishing in Loch Silverfin. Then from nowhere a mysterious eel-like man runs and jumps into the loch and tries to save him. The first part of the book chronicles James Bond's starting attendance at Eton College, an expensive English boarding school. There he meets Pritpal, the son of an Indian Maharajah. The two become good friends and live together in the dorms along with another of his friends, a Chinese boy named Tommy Chong. Bond also comes into contact with George Hellebore, an American bully three years older than James. George's father, Lord Randolph Hellebore is an armament dealer who sold weapons to various countries after World War I. It is later revealed that Lord Hellebore knew Bond's father, Andrew Bond, who also sold arms while working for Vickers after the war. Lord Hellebore arrives at Eton to direct and host a tournament cup ("Hellebore Cup") for the boys. The competition is divided into three events: shooting, swimming, and running, It is rumoured that George Hellebore is supposed to win, but an unexpected rival named Andrew Carlton manages to beat him. Bond places seventh in shooting, fourth in his heat in swimming (which was not good enough to qualify for the final race), and first in cross country running. During the running sequence Lord Hellebore attempts to help his son cheat so that he could win the tournament; however, Bond after seeing George take a shortcut a first time decides to follow George the next time, and being the superior runner then passes him to win the race. George tries to trip James with his leg but loses his balance and falls into a mud puddle. Because Bond won first in running, Andrew Carlton is the winner and George Hellebore came in third place in the cup overall, which was unacceptable by his father's standard. The second part of the novel details the spring break. James travels to Scotland to meet with his Aunt Charmian who is visiting Bond's ailing uncle, Max, who is dying of cancer. Both Charmian and Max are siblings of Bond's father, Andrew. It is also in this part of the novel that Higson reveals the details of Bond's parents' death, first mentioned in Ian Fleming's You Only Live Twice. While travelling to Scotland, Bond befriends an older boy named "Red"(for his bright red hair) Kelly who is travelling to the same place in search for his missing cousin, Alfie who disappeared whilst out fishing (thus tying in with the prologue). James also meets a girl called Wilder who loves riding horses. While staying at his uncle's place Bond learns how to drive his uncle's car and finds out that his uncle was a spy during World War I. Bond also learns that Lord Randolph Hellebore owns a large stretch of land nearby that includes Loch Silverfin. He later meets back up with Red and ventures to Hellebore's estate where the two encounter Mike "Meatpacker" Moran, a Pinkerton's detective from New York City sent to investigate Lord Randolph Hellebore at the behest of Hellebore's wife, who suspects Lord Randolph of having killed his brother, her lover, Algar. However, they later discover the detective dead and eaten in Loch Silverfin, which is full of eels. The boys plan to infiltrate the castle by climbing a tree, but Red falls out of the tree and breaks his leg, and is unable to continue. James succeeds in entering the castle. After snooping around he bumps his head and is captured. When James regains consciousness he is tied to a table and Lord Hellebore begins to interrogate him. Hellebore explains to James that he and his brother set out to create better and stronger soldiers by manipulating the endocrine system. Because it is difficult to find humans to test on, Algar tested the first "SilverFin serum" on himself. Initially it worked, but later an increased dosage transformed Algar physically, giving him a distorted body that is eel-like. Lord Hellebore subsequently perfected the serum and was able to turn it into a pill. The pill essentially acts as a steroid making anyone who uses it more agile, stronger, etc. for a temporary set of time. Hellebore even tests this pill on his own son (as James had witnessed during the cross- country race). Lord Hellebore reveals that he tested the SilverFin serum on Alfie Kelly, the boy whom Bond is searching for, but Kelly's heart gave out and he died. The wastes poured into Loch Silverfin made the eels vicious. Later Bond is also drugged with the SilverFin serum and locked in a cell. Bond, however, uses his enhanced abilities to escape the cell and the estate by finding an underwater entrance to Loch Silverfin and swimming through, with the help of Wilder Lawless (who kisses him at some point), only to return shortly later with George Hellebore as an ally to destroy Lord Randolph's lab. George has increasingly become upset with his dreadful father and his work, and secretly wishes to be with his mother more than anything. The two destroy the lab and are later confronted by Lord Hellebore who intends to kill them both. Hellebore attacks them with a double-barreled shotgun. However, Algar intervenes at the last moment and forces himself and Hellebore into Loch Silverfin. Algar is wounded by his brother's shotgun and his blood attracts the eels who kill both the brothers while they are fighting. James collapses due to a lung infection and exhaustion shortly after and for ten days lies unconscious. When he regains consciousness he learns that George has moved back to America to be with his mother, and that his Uncle Max has died, leaving James his car. 

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Guillaume, a foundling supposed to be of low degree, is brought up at the court of the emperor of Rome, and loves the emperor's daughter Melior who is destined for a Greek prince. The lovers flee into the woods, disguised in bear-skins. Alfonso, who is Guillaume's cousin and a Spanish prince, has been changed into a wolf by his stepmother's enchantments. He provides food and protection for the fugitives, and Guillaume eventually triumphs over Alfonso's father, and wins back from him his kingdom. The benevolent werewolf is disenchanted, and marries Guillaume's sister. 

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John "Jack" Sommersby (Gere) left his farm to fight in the American Civil War and is presumed dead after six years. Despite the hardship of working their farm in Vine Hill, Tennessee, his apparent widow Laurel (Foster) is content in his absence, because Jack was an unpleasant and abusive husband. She makes remarriage plans with one of her neighbors, Orin Meacham (Pullman), who has been helping her and her young son with the farmwork. One day, Jack seemingly returns with a change of heart. He is now kind and loving to Laurel and their young son, Rob. In the evenings, he reads to them from Homer's Iliad, which the old Jack would never have done. He claims that the book was given to him by a man he met in prison. Jack and Laurel rekindle their intimacy, which leads to Laurel becoming pregnant. Displaced from his courtship of Laurel, Meacham suspects Jack as an impostor. The town shoemaker also finds that this man's foot is two sizes smaller than the last made for Sommersby before the war. Jack finds the local economy ruined, and his own land mortgaged and exhausted. To revive the economy, he suggests Burley tobacco as a cash crop. He persuades the townsfolk to pool their resources to buy seed, offering them to share-crop on his land, and to sell them their plots at a fair price once the mortgage is cleared. This raises further doubts in his old neighbors, who believe that the "old" Jack would not give away his father's land, and resentment about the inclusion of former slaves. Joseph (Faison), a black freedman living on Sommersby's land, is brutally attacked and brought to Sommersby's door by hooded night riders proclaiming themselves the Knights of the White Camellia (one of them is Meacham). Jack is threatened, in an attempt to force him to exclude black people from the landowning, but he refuses. Upon taking the townspeople's money, he buys the tobacco seed claiming that the crops will raise enough funds to rebuild the town church. All those that bought in on the deal set to work, transforming the plantation into a breeding ground of promise and prosperity. Laurel gives birth to a daughter, Rachel. Shortly after Rachel's baptism, two U.S. Marshals arrest Jack on the charge of murder, which carries the death penalty. Laurel's attempts to save her husband focus on the question of his identity: whether this "Jack" is who he claims to be, or a lookalike who met the real Sommersby whilst in prison for deserting the Confederate Army. Laurel and Jack's lawyer agree to argue that her husband is an impostor. This would save him from hanging for murder, but he would still be imprisoned for fraud and military desertion. Meacham devises this plan in exchange for Laurel promising to marry him upon "Sommersby's" imprisonment. Jack fires the lawyer and sets about re-establishing himself as the real Sommersby. Several witnesses are brought up to discredit this Sommersby as a fraud, who state that he is Horace Townsend, an English teacher and con artist from Virginia. One witness says that the man currently posing as Jack defrauded his township of several thousand dollars after claiming he wanted to help rebuild the schoolhouse there. He is also said to have deserted the Confederate Army and ended up in prison. Sommersby discredits the man's testimony by identifying him as one of the Klansmen who had threatened him earlier. He points out that Orin Meacham was another of those men and that this is all a set-up to try to rob the new black farmers of the land they have bought. When Laurel is called as a witness, she reveals that his kind nature convinced her of his being an impostor, admitting "…because I never loved him the way I love you!". Judge Barry Conrad Isaacs (Jones) calls Jack to his bench to ask whether he wishes to be tried as Jack Sommersby, even if it will certainly mean death by hanging. Jack states that he wants to be tried as John "Jack" Sommersby. Jack is convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death by hanging. While awaiting death, he is asked by Laurel to tell the truth about his identity and Horace Townsend. Laurel mentions the book on Homer's works that he holds. Jack tells her the story of how a man had to share a cell with another man, who looked like they could have been brothers. After sharing a cell for four years, they came to know everything about each other. Upon his release, Jack Sommersby killed another man, then died from a wound he got during the fight. Horace Townsend then buried Jack Sommersby, which is seen in the opening scene of the film. Horace decided to assume Jack Sommerby's identity. 'Jack' (who is, in fact, Horace) concludes by saying he cannot admit his true identity, because Laurel and the children would lose everything. As Jack is taken to the gallows, he asks Laurel to be amongst the crowds, as he cannot "hang alone". As Jack is about to be hanged, Laurel makes her way to the front of the crowd. Jack calls for her, claiming to the executioner that he "isn't ready". She calls back to him, and the two see each other before he is executed. The closing scenes show Laurel walking up a hill with flowers. She then kneels by the gravestone of "John Robert Sommersby" and lays the flowers down for him. It is revealed that work is being done on the steeple of the village church, as Jack had wished. 

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1890s Mexico Tejon is left for dead by Tennessee Vic, he’s found by the corrupt General Blanco who leaves him to rot in a prison. Tejon’s cellmate is the leader of the resistance fighting the general. His men come to free him and Tejon. Tejon’s first trip is to Sanchez. He was the drunk of the group but also known to find hideouts for the group. After gunning down Sanchez and his men. He’s approached by his former lover who hears about it and seeks to aid in his quest. He refuses saying it’s personal and dangerous. Flat Iron is Tejon’s next target. Flat Iron is a renegade Comanche who’s skilled with knives. He’s a much more formidable opponent, on the account of his speed and sharp knives. After confronting Flat Iron, Tejon kills him. Tejon then confronts “Numbers”. Numbers with the accounting of the group Numbers was the banker of the group. He was also seen as cowardly and easily pushed around. Numbers heard about Sanchez and prepares. Tejon also kills him with ease. Along the way Tejon, picks up bounties who are either helpful to find the nine or extra money. After then he goes to the lumber mill owned by Big Guns Grissom, the strongman of the Nine. What he lacks in intelligence he makes up for in brute force. He proofs to be more tough opponent as he’s capable of throwing axes with accuracy. Tejon confronts him and blows up what’s left of his mill. Next on the list is Father Zeke, a jacklegged preacher who hustles his congregations to help build his lavish lifestyle. He often quotes scripture when taunting his enemies. His signature weapon is whiskey bombs. Tejon confronts him in one of his churches, after he kills Zeke, he goes to his house and destroys it. Remembering that his cell mate Iago needs his help, Tejon goes back to Mexico to fight General Blanco. While he’s battling the general, he rallies to the remaining rebels and defeats him once and for all. He then returns to the trail of the Nine. He’s seeking a well known gambler, who’s name is Kendall. Kendall has local connections and uses them to hide. Tejon kills the sons of the local madam who knows where Kendall is. After killing her, he’s able to clear a path to his own friend. Kendall was the smooth talker and ladies man of the Nine. Known to be a quick draw when needed. He too is a much harder opponent. 

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In April 1953, during the Korean War, a company of U.S. infantrymen, led by Lieutenant Joe Clemons (Gregory Peck) and Lt. Suki Ohashi (George Shibata) are to recapture Pork Chop Hill from a larger Communist Chinese army force. They succeed in taking the hill, but their number are depleted; only 25 of a 135-man company are left. They prepare for a large- scale Chinese counter-attack which they know will overwhelm and annihilate them. Meanwhile, at nearby Panmunjeom, cease-fire negotiations continue, and U.S. Army High Command are unwilling to reinforce the hill because its value is not worth further losses. Yet they will not abandon the hill either, because it is a point of negotiation in the cease-fire talks. Eventually, American negotiators come to the conclusion that the Chinese are pouring soldiers into the battle for a militarily insignificant hill to test the resolve of the Americans in the negotiations. Thus, the decision is made to reinforce the hill, saving the lives of the survivors of Clemons's unit. 

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Three hundred years ago, the god of thunder, Taishakuten, rebelled against the Heavenly Emperor, killing both him and the guardian god Ashura-ō. With the help of Ashura-ō's wife Shashi, he usurped the throne and began his cruel reign as the new Emperor. However, a prophecy was made by the stargazer Kuyō, first to Ashura-ō and then to Yasha-ō: > Six stars will fall to this plane. The dark stars that will defy the > Heavens. And you shall undertake a journey. One that begins when you find > the child of a vanished race. I cannot discern the child's alignment. I only > know that it is he alone who can turn the wheels of Tenkai's destiny. For it > is by Heavenly Mandate that through this child, the Six Stars shall begin to > gather. And then someone shall appear from the shadows. Even my powers > cannot clearly make out his figure, but he knows the future and can > manipulate both evil and heavenly stars. A roaring flame shall raze the > wicked. Six stars will overpower all others. And inevitably, they will be > the schism that splits the Heavens. Following this prophecy, the Guardian Warrior of the northland, Yasha-ō, awakens the genderless child of Ashura-ō, Ashura, who has slept the last three hundred years under a magical seal. Believing the prophecy to mean that the "Six Stars" together can overthrow Taishakuten, he and Ashura set out to find the "Six Stars". Over time, five of the Six Stars gather as Yasha-ō and Ashura, the first two stars, are joined by Sōma, Ryu-ō and Karura-ō, the other three. A mysterious character who appears and disappears quite regularly, Kujaku, gives them helpful advice, but his nature and intentions are unclear. The gentle and childlike Ashura (who is usually referred to as "he" out of convenience, though some translations use a female pronoun) soon reveals a deadly alter-ego, a youth who delights in death and destruction, but this side remains for the longest time more or less suppressed, also by Ashura's affection for Yasha-ō. Seeking to bring Taishakuten's reign to an end, the Six Stars finally enter Zenmi-jō, Taishakuten's palace. They are met there by the three remaining "Four Generals" (Shitennō) (one was killed by Yasha-ō earlier), warriors who swore to protect Taishakuten. The Six Stars are shocked to discover that the sixth Star, Kendappa-ō, their friend and ally, is among them as Jikokuten, the previously unknown general. By the meeting of all the Six Stars, Ashura's dark nature is brought to the surface. He kills his mother, the traitorous Shashi, takes the seal on her forehead and merges it with his sword Shura-tō, to awaken the true Ashura; the god of flame, blood and war, whose aim is to destroy heaven, earth, and hell. The true Ashura proceeds to complete his awakening by killing the remaining Six Stars (some of them were killed earlier). He kills the stars one by one, absorbing their power, until only Yasha-ō is left. Surprisingly, Taishakuten stands against him. It turns out that his cruel reign was really a plot by him and the deceased Ashura-ō to prevent the gathering of the Six Stars and the true Ashura's awakening. However, it is not Taishakuten who stops Ashura, but Ashura himself. As he is about to give Yasha-ō the finishing blow, Ashura in the last moment stabs himself instead. He is then enveloped in a cocoon and enters into a deep sleep. Ashura is awakened hundreds of years later when Kujaku sacrifices his own life, on Yasha-ō's promise that he will not let Ashura become the God of Destruction again. 

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While reading a newspaper advertisement, taxi driver Tarek Fahd discovers an invitation to participate in an experiment, in which 4,000 German marks are offered to the participants of a simulation of a prison situation. The experiment is led by Professor Klaus Thon and his assistant, Dr. Jutta Grimm. He decides to join in. Tarek participates as a journalist while wearing a pair of glasses with a built-in mini-camera. After a car accident he suffers shortly before the experiment, Tarek meets a woman called Dora. She spends the night with him and Tarek keeps thinking of her, shown in flashbacks. The 20 volunteers are pronounced guards and prisoners, 12 prisoners and 8 guards, and are being observed by a team of scientists. In the experiment, the prisoners lose their civil rights and have to obey arbitrary rules, such as the obligation to completely finish their meals. The guards are given nightsticks, but are told not to use violence in any case. Each prisoner's name is taken away and replaced by a number. Tarek (prisoner number 77) initially refuses to acknowledge the guards' superiority by drinking the milk of one of his co-prisoners because of that prisoner's lactose intolerance, or by throwing his blanket out of his cell to provoke the guards. He befriends his cellmates Steinhoff and Schütte. Psychological changes develop and the situation deteriorates. The circumstances seem to be escalating after only a few days. It becomes clear that limits are not only being reached, but being surpassed when the guards kidnap Tarek from his cell late in the night, order him to strip fully naked, shave his head bald and urinate on him. The guards become excessively aware of their power and use the prisoners' fear to make them obedient. On both sides, one person is considered dominant. On the prisoners' side, this is Tarek, and on the guards' side, it is the quiet guard Berus, a sadist, whose motto during the experiment is: "Humiliation is the only way we can solve these troubles." From that moment on, the guards start to use more and more violence against the prisoners. The scientists engage in a discussion whether or not to abort the experiment. Dr. Grimm suggests to put an end to the alarming situation, but Professor Thon refuses to stop the experiment until the violence has reached a maximum. Dora meanwhile returns to Tarek's apartment and discovers his participation contract for the experiment. She surprises him by showing up for a visit day. Tarek, who was forced to clean the toilet with his own clothes, pleads to the friendly guard Walther Bosch to secretly bring her a message. Berus intercepts Bosch, however, and tells Dora that everything is all right and refuses to let Tarek see Dora. The situation becomes critical and more violence is involved. The prisoners are being abused and their self-esteem is drastically decreased by the guards' power. Most of the violence is directed against Tarek and he is locked up in solitary confinement inside a "black box" resembling a safe. Schütte, protesting this, is beaten severely, bound and gagged with duct tape and forced to sit on a chair. Later he suffocates to death due to his bloody nose drying up while gagged. Bosch is beaten by the other guards for his "betrayal" and is put into confinement. Lars, a member of Thon's team, notices this and attempts to contact Professor Thon, who is attending a conference. The guards, who are aware that the professor cannot be reached by phone, are convinced by Berus that the entire situation is a test put up by Thon's team, in order to make the guards handle an exceptional situation. They take over control of the facility and capture Lars, Dr. Grimm and the other scientists, who are put into confinement as well, and gradually start their own prison in which they engage in brutally sadistic games with total control. Dora comes to the facility a second time to speak to Tarek and is lured into a room by Berus, where he locks her up. The guard Eckert attempts to rape Dr. Grimm. He is stopped by Tarek, who escaped from solitary confinement through the use of a screwdriver that he found inside the "black box". Tarek knocks down Eckert and frees Lars, Bosch, Steinhoff, Dr. Grimm and the other prisoners. They manage to escape by removing the wall paneling of one of the cells with the screwdriver. Meanwhile, Professor Thon hears Lars' desperate message in his voicemail and leaves for the facility. Meanwhile, Steinhoff and Tarek stay behind in order to prevent Berus from coming after them. Professor Thon reaches the facility and demands an explanation from Eckert, who accidentally injures him with a pistol. The fleeing prisoners are ambushed by the guards and trapped. Bosch, who could not keep up with the others, loses his sanity and kills Eckert with a fire extinguisher. Dora then escapes the room she was locked up in, and steals Eckert's gun. She injures one of the guards while he is engaged in fighting Tarek and Steinhoff, leaving only Berus to fight them. Tarek incapacitates Berus, who is nearly choked to death by Steinhoff until Tarek convinces him not to kill Berus. The film ends with a news break, confirming two deaths (Schütte and Eckert) and three severely injured (Thon, Berus, and Bosch). Both Berus and Thon will be put on trial, Berus for multiple homicides and torture with rape, and Thon for allowing an illegal and unethical experiment. In last scene Dora and Tarek are sitting together happily on the beach. 

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The story of the game begins in 1996 when inventor/scientist Dr. Fluke Hawkins believes he has made a revolutionary discovery; an outer space phenomenon he calls "Flange Orbits". However, when he approaches the scientific community with his discovery, he is ridiculed. Determined to prove his colleagues wrong, Hawkins builds a space station, the Jim Dandy, and bribes aboard his laboratory janitor, Kurt Hectic, by means of Hungarian goulash. He then launches the station into orbit, projecting that the mission will last five days. However, after a week, Hawkins realizes Flange Orbits do not actually exist, but rather than return to Earth in shame, he decides to remain on the Dandy to try to discover something, anticipating another week in space. Kurt is extremely unhappy with this development, but once Hawkins shows him how to program the VCR, he calms down. A year later, having made no discoveries, Hawkins begins work building a genetically engineered robotic dog, which he plans to call "Bones". After a year, Bones is fully operational, although both Bones and Kurt prefer the name Max. Despite having four arms and two legs, and being full of energy, Max proves more than a little reluctant to help Hawkins with the chores on the Dandy, proving more interested in tending to his vegetable garden. Another year passes without Hawkins making a breakthrough until he notices streams of energy moving through the Solar System towards Earth. He sends a warning down to Earth (along with some of Max's oranges), but is ignored. Upon reaching Earth, the streams disgorge gigantic "Minecrawlers", city-sized vehicles designed to strip mine the natural resources from a planet, crushing anything in their path. The aliens, known as "Streamriders", and under the command of Gunter Glut, easily demolish Earth's military forces, and so Hawkins decides to take action to save the planet. Hawkins reasons the only way to fight the aliens is with his newly invented "Coil Suit", but due to his advancing years and Max's extra pair of legs, Kurt is the only one who can wear it, and, thus, becomes the very reluctant hero. As such, Kurt is dispatched on "Mission: Deliver Kindness", entering the Minecrawlers from above, and destroying them from the inside-out, shooting his way through to the pilot, whom he then kills, before being extracted back to the Jim Dandy. Kurt fights his way through a number of Minecrawlers, destroying them one by one, until he reaches the Crawler piloted by Gunter Glut himself. Kurt destroys the final Minecrawler, but Glut captures Max, and escapes into an energy stream leading to his base ship. Kurt gives chase and frees Max, who tricks Glut into eating him. Max then kills Glut by exploding him from within. The two then escape and destroy Glut's ship. The ending sequence is a monochrome mix of a French music video ("Non Non Rien N'a Changé" by Billy Ze Kick) and clips from the MDK promotional video. 

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The entire film is set inside a Lansing, Michigan motel room. Vince, a drug dealer/volunteer firefighter who lives in Oakland, California, rents the room in his hometown to support his old high school friend's entry into the Lansing Film Festival. His friend, documentary filmmaker Jon Salter, joins Vince in his motel room and the two reminisce about their high school years. At first, the two are happy to see one another, but friction soon develops. Eventually, they get on the subject of Amy, Vince's former girlfriend. It appears that, while they dated for some time, Vince and Amy never had sex. However, after or at the point when their relationship had ended, Amy slept with Jon. Vince claims Amy had told him that Jon had raped her. Vince becomes obsessed with, and eventually succeeds in getting a verbal confession from Jon. Immediately after Jon's admission, Vince pulls out a hidden tape recorder that had been recording their whole conversation, much to Jon's horror. Vince then tells Jon that he has invited Amy to dinner, and that she will be arriving shortly. Eventually Amy does arrive and, even though all three of them feel awkward, they begin to talk. Amy explains that she is now an assistant district attorney in the Lansing Justice Department. Eventually, the three discuss what actually happened between Jon and Amy that night at the party, 10 years in the past. Jon asks Amy's forgiveness for raping her, but Amy claims that the encounter was consensual, leading Jon to believe that she is in denial or is toying with him. After Jon becomes annoyed that Amy is refusing to accept his apology, Amy calls the police. She asks for a squad car to pick up one person in possession of drugs (Vince), and one in relation to a verifiable rape (Jon). After concluding her phone call, Amy warns the men that they only have about four minutes to make a run for it. In order to prove to Amy that he is truly remorseful, Jon decides to stay and wait for the police. Vince, realizing that there is nowhere for him to run, flushes his narcotics down the toilet and destroys the tape containing Jon's confession. Soon after, Amy reveals that she didn't really call the police and leaves. 

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